Ex-Quezon mayor gets 16 years for graft

MANILA, Philippines — A former mayor of Lopez town in Quezon has been convicted of graft and falsification of public documents in connection with the premature release of payment for P1 million worth of kitchenware in 2008.

In a 75-page decision promulgated on May 28 and released yesterday, the Sandiganbayan’s Sixth Division said Isaias Ubana, former municipal senior administrative assistant Ma. Bernadette Nieva and Leonardo Revuelta, owner of Revuelta Enterprises, were sentenced to up to eight years in prison for graft.

Ubana and Nieva were sentenced to another eight years in prison for the falsification offense and ordered to pay a fine of P5,000. They were also perpetually disqualified from holding public office.

Filed by the Office of the Ombudsman in 2015, the cases stemmed from the municipal government’s payment of P1.005 million to Revuelta Enterprises on Dec. 8, 2008 for kitchenware to be distributed to several barangays.

The ombudsman said the full payment was released even though the items were not yet delivered.

The sixth division gave weight to a Commission on Audit report that Revuelta delivered the items on a staggered basis.

The court found no merit in the defendants’ insistence that all the items were delivered after payment and were stored in the municipal warehouse pending distribution to beneficiary-barangays.