Ex-Cagayan vice governor gets 8 years for graft

MANILA, Philippines — Former Cagayan vice governor Leonides Fausto may spend up to eight years in prison over the illegal encashment of the internal revenue allotment (IRA) of several barangays in the province amounting to P6.6 million.

In a 37-page decision promulgated on Aug. 12 and released yesterday, the Sandiganbayan’s Second Division found Fausto guilty of violating Section 3 (e) of Republic Act 3019 or the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act. The provision prohibits a public official from giving any party, including himself, unwarranted benefit, advantage or preference or from causing any party, including the government, undue injury.

Fausto’s wife Eulalie, former head of the Land Bank of the Philippines in Tuguegarao branch, and his former executive assistant Ricardo Cabacungan Jr. were convicted of the same offense.

The three were meted the accessory penalty of perpetual disqualification from holding public office.

The court also ordered them to pay the government P6.606 million in civil liability, representing the amount of public funds found to have been illegally disbursed.

The Office of the Ombudsman filed the case in 2017, saying Fausto, in his capacity as president of the Liga ng mga Barangay of Cagayan, duped around 200 village officials into believing that he could facilitate the release of their IRA if they signed blank checks.

The ombudsman said such misrepresentation “constituted the real and moving cause” for  barangay officials in Solana, Sto. Niño, Tuao, Amulung and Iguig to issue the blank checks.

The second division gave weight to the testimonies of the village officials who identified Fausto and Cabacungan as the persons who instructed them to sign the blank checks with the promise that the release of their IRA would be facilitated.

“The fact that the checks, without supporting documents, were encashed, but the payees indicated therein denied receiving the said amounts shows that the amounts were used for an illegal purpose,” the court said.

Fausto’s wife played a “significant role” in the “monetization of the scheme,” it added.

”Her participation in the encashment of the checks, with the certification she herself signed on every check, effectively made possible the encashments to bogus payees,” the court ruling stated. ”The payees denied knowledge of the checks or having received them as payment.”

On the other hand, Fausto, his wife and Cabacungan were cleared of two counts of estafa after the prosecution failed to prove that their act was attended with deceit.