Ex-Rizal mayor, 7 others guilty of graft

MANILA, Philippines - The Sandiganbayan has sentenced a former mayor of Rodriguez, Rizal and seven others to a maximum of 10 years and six months in jail for graft.

Former mayor Rafaelito San Diego, former councilors Jonas Cruz, Reynaldo Abac, Cesar Carmona, Romeo Santos, and Jemelita Baldago-Dulla, former Sangguniang Kabataan Federation president Roger Frias, and former municipal engineer Gervacio Nocon were also ordered to jointly and severally pay the government more than P500,000 in actual damages.

They were also perpetually disqualified from holding public office.

All eight were found guilty of passing a Sangguniang Bayan resolution approving a boundary marker project worth P510,536 months after the structure had already been built and inaugurated.   – Michael Punongbayan