BACOLOD City – Sulpicio Lagarde Jr. – the current general manager of Central Negros Electric Cooperative (Ceneco) – was ordered arrested in relation to a falsification case.
Judge Remegio Rojo of the Municipal Trial Court in Cities Branch 5 issued the warrant of arrest on Dec. 20.
Lagarde, who is applying for retirement, said his lawyer already filed a motion for reconsideration last week.
“I can’t talk about the details due to prohibition of subjudice. My lawyer filed a motion on Dec. 27 as part of our legal remedy,” he said in a text message to Panay News.
The Ceneco official faces Criminal Case No. 11-06-20219 for falsification of an official document – a case filed by lawyer Enrique Tabino, former member of the Ceneco board.
Aside from Lagarde, the court also ordered the arrest of former Ceneco board president Edward Gasambelo.
The court issued the warrant after it released an Aug. 31 decision convicting Lagarde and Gasambelo for falsifying Ceneco Board Resolution No. 8560-A series of 2009, which applied for a provisional Ceneco rate increase before the Energy Regulatory Commission.
The court ruled that Lagarde and Gasambelo should “suffer the penalty of imprisonment of three years, six months and twenty-one days to four years, nine months and ten days…and a fine of P5,000 with subsidiary imprisonment in case of insolvency.”
Earlier, Lagarde said: “This is a nine-year-old case. I have to admit, I did not give it much attention then because I believe indi ni salapakon nga kaso.”
He added that he hopes for the reversal of the decision after his camp presents their side before the court./PN
