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BY HERBERT L. VEGO
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Friday, March 24, 2017
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SAN JOSE, Antique – The Sandiganbayan has acquitted former governor Salvacion Zaldivar Perez of criminal liability stemming from a complaint lodged against her before the anti-graft court.
In a resolution promulgated on March 3, 2017, the Sandiganbayan’s Special Second Division dismissed the “grave abuse of authority” criminal case (violation of section 3e of Republic Act 3019) against the former governor “for insufficiency of evidence.”
The information against Perez, filed on June 14, 2011, accused her of diverting to a non-government organization – the Antique Development Foundation (ADF) – P5 million from the Ginintuang Masaganang Ani (GMA) Farm Input Fund of the Department of Agriculture.
The prosecution represented by then Sangguniang Panlalawigan (SP) member J. Tobias Javier and eight other witnesses (all government officials) alluded to Perez as having committed the crime for pecuniary interest, citing her as “honorary chairman” of the ADF.
The aforesaid amount was released by Department of Agriculture (DA) to the foundation as a result of a memorandum of agreement entered into by Perez in her capacity as provincial governor, the ADF and the DA’s regional field unit.
The facts of the case may be summarized thus:
Sometime in 2004, the province through the governor allegedly endorsed the ADF to DA Region 6 as beneficiary of the P5-million fund on the pretext that ADF was “one of the most viable non-government organizations to implement the Farm Inputs/Farm Implements Program of the Department of Agriculture.”
As prosecution witness, SP member Javier nixed the validity of the agreement in the absence of any SP resolution authorizing the governor as representative of the province to enter into any memorandum with DA.
However, another witness in the person of Larry Nacionales (in his capacity as DA regional director) argued that it’s the DA itself through an accreditation committee that evaluated and chose the most qualified beneficiary; and the governor who recommended the beneficiary was not part of that committee.
Perez pointed out that the prosecution failed to prove that she was the “honorary chairman” of ADF identified as “Sally Z. Perez” in the information.
In its 14-page resolution dismissing the case, the Sandiganbayan through Associate Justice Samuel Martires pointed out that the “prosecution was not able to present sufficient evidence that she had a direct or indirect financial or pecuniary interest in ADF or in ADF’s transaction.”/PN
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