Ex-Butuan mayor gets 16 years for graft

MANILA, Philippines — A former mayor of Butuan City has been sentenced to up to 16 years in prison for the procurement and shipment of a defective computerized tomography (CT) scan machine worth over P15 million from the US.

In a 54-page decision promulgated on Oct. 14, the Sandiganbayan said former mayor Ferdinand Amante Jr. was found guilty of violating Sections 3(e) and 3(g) of Republic Act 3019 or the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act.

Amante was sentenced to six to eight years in prison for each offense, or a total of 12 to 16 years for both offenses.

The anti-graft court’s Third Division also disqualified Amante from holding public office.

The law prohibits a public official from giving unwarranted benefit to a private party or from causing any party including the government undue injury, and from entering into any transaction that is grossly disadvantageous to the government.

Filed by the Office of the Ombudsman in 2018, the charges stemmed from the payment by the city government of Butuan of P15.49 million to the World Medical Relief-Philippines (WMR-P), a non-profit organization based in Panabo, Davao City in 2012 or during Amante’s term as mayor.

The payment was for the shipment of a Positron Emission Tomography-Computerized Tomography scan machine donated to Butuan by a US-based non-profit organization, World Medical Relief Inc. in June 2013.

The ombudsman said Amante authorized the full payment to WMR-P without first ensuring that the machine was in good condition.

The ombudsman said the CT scan machine was later found to be non-operational and unusable, resulting in its return to the donor at the expense of the city government.

State prosecutors said Amante allowed the release of P15.49 to the WMR-P even as  the city council capped the incidental cost for the machine’s acquisition at P1.512 million only.

The anti-graft court said Amante committed negligence when he allowed the receipt of the non-functioning CT scan machine, causing undue injury to the city government.

Associate Justice Bernelito Fernandez penned the decision, which was concurred in by Third Division chair and Sandiganbayan Presiding Justice Amparo Cabotaje-Tang and Associate Justice Ronald Moreno.