The Sandiganbayan has convicted two former officials of state-run National Agribusiness Corporation (Nabcor) and a private individual on two counts of malversation of public funds and two counts of graft in connection with the P10-billion “pork barrel” scam.
In an 86-page decision, the anti-graft court meted 24 to 40 years’ imprisonment to former Nabcor Human Resources manager Encarnita-Cristina Munsod, former General Services Unit head Romulo Relevo, and private defendant Margie Tajon-Luz, president of GabayMasa Development Foundation Inc., on top of a P4.85-million fine and reimbursing the same amount to the government subject to 6% annual interest until paid in full, for conspiring with one another to defraud the government and embezzle public funds sourced from the discretionary Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF), known as pork barrel fund, of the late Eastern Samar congressman Teodulo Coquilla.
The anti-graft court said that while Nabcor officials Munsod and Relevo merely followed the instructions of their co-accused and boss, Nabcor President Alan Javellana, the two are individually liable for processing the documents that paved the way for the release of taxpayers’ money to bogus projects.
“The prosecution was able to prove that …accused Relevo, Munsod, and Luz conspired with accused Coquilla. [They] willingly went along with the ignoble scheme of accused Coquilla by completing the act of embezzling the PDAF-drawn funds through the implementation…
