Former Virac Mayor Flerida Antonio-Alberto is expected to either file a motion for reconsideration with the Sandiganbayan or an appeal with the Supreme Court after her conviction last week on 12 graft and malversation charges in connection with the P62-million PDAF scam in Misamis Occidental.
The wife of former Mayor Jose Alberto II and mother of PBM Jan Ferdinand Alberto was acquitted in three of the total 20 cases filed against her and the other accused but was found guilty in six graft charges, four involving malversation of public funds through falsification, and two for malversation of public funds.
In the June 28, 2024 decision of the Sandiganbayan’s Third Division, each of the six graft cases carried a penalty of six years and one month as minimum, to 10 years as maximum.
Three of the malversation cases had a penalty of two years, four months and one day as minimum, to six years and one day as maximum, while the other three carried jail terms of 10 years and one day as minimum, to 14 to 17 years as maximum.
All told, she was meted imprisonment for a total of 73 years, six months and six days as minimum and 127 years, four months and six days as maximum.
The Court said that she and her co-accused would suffer perpetual disqualification from holding any public office and loss of all retirement or gratuity benefits under the law.
She was likewise ordered to pay fines totaling P16,975,000 and to reimburse the same amount to the government.
The former mayor’s sister, Marilou L. Antonio, was found guilty in 20 of the 28 graft and malversation cases and was sentenced to a total of 135 years, six months and one day as minimum, to a maximum of 215 years, four months and 10 days, and to pay total fines and reimbursements of P75.66 million.
She remains at large, along with former Misamis Occidental 1st District Representative Marina Clarete and eight other former government officials and officers of three non-government organizations who benefited from the alleged scam.
The two women are among the 17 former officials of National Agribusiness Corp (Nabcor), National Livelihood Development Corp (NLDC), Technology Resource Center (TRC), and NGOs Kabuhayan at Kalusugang Alay sa Masa Foundation, Inc. (KKAMFI), Aaron Foundation Philippines Inc. (AFPI) and Kasangga sa Magandang Bukas Foundation, Inc. (KMBFI) indicted in the 36 criminal cases initiated by the Office of the Ombudsman in 2017.
Prosecutors alleged that Flerida was the president, chairman of the board and one of the incorporators of KKAMFI while Marilou was the chief finance Officer, incorporator and trustee of both KKAMFI and KMBFI.
The complaint said that accused Clarete requested the Department of Budget and Management for the release of her PDAF to NABCOR, NLDC, and TRC as the “implementing agencies” of her intended PDAF-funded livelihood projects in her district.
She then endorsed in writing KKAMFI, KMBFI, and AFPI as “project partners” to implement the said projects from 2007 to 2009: the procurement and distribution of 6,222 sets of Livelihood Technology Kits Vol. I-V; 195 water pumps, 197 hand tractors, 3,000 mango seedlings, 450 grafted calamansi seedlings and 2,750 rambutan seedlings; 1,942 sets of Livelihood Training Courses in Video Form (Soap Making, Dimsum Delights, Meat Processing, Fish Processing & Rootcrop Products), with each package consisting of 1 unit DVD Player, 1 Unit 21″ Colored TV, and 64 VCDs with 11 Training Courses; and the conduct of the livelihood trainings and seminars.
The Sandiganbayan said the former officials of the three state-controlled companies awarded the projects and approved disbursements to the KKAMFI, KMBFI and AFPI despite their questionable legal and physical existence, as investigators discovered the NGOs had dubious documents and addresses.
Evidence presented during the trial established that the NGOs submitted falsified certifications, reports, invoices, and lists of beneficiaries which the GOCCs and Clarete verified and certified as “correct and proper.”
Several municipal and barangay officials as well as supposed beneficiaries testified that the supposed projects were not conducted and that none of those listed as beneficiaries were from their barangays.
In her defense, accused Flerida A. Alberto told the anti-graft court that she was not familiar with any of her co-accused in these cases and the SEC documents of KKAMFI, as well as the signature appearing on top of the name Flerida A. Alberto.
She denied that she signed the SEC Documents, Financial Status Report, PDAF Monitoring Report Form, KKAMFI Purchase Order No. 002-04-2008 dated April 11, 2008 and KKAMFI Purchase Order No. 005-04-2008 dated April 11, 2008, presenting documents showing her true and legitimate signature.
Alberto also insisted she was not the president of KKAMFI and she was not familiar with the addresses of KKAMFI in Quezon City and Pasig City since she has been a resident of Virac, Catanduanes since 1997.
However, she could not explain to the Court why the signatures appearing on the KKAMFI purchase orders were different from legitimate signatures and admitted that she did not secure the services of a handwriting expert to compare and analyze the signatures.
In ruling on her participation in the alleged scam, the Sandiganbayan leaned on records showing that she was KKAMFI president in 2008 as evidenced by the company’s General Information Sheet for 2007 and 2008, which it said was admitted in the Pre-Trial Order and during her cross-examination on July 31, 2023.
It underscored that, as the president of KKAMFI, accused Alberto is deemed to have general supervision and control over the corporate affairs and daily operations of KKAMFI, including its transactions with regard to the PDAF-drawn public funds of accused Clarete.
“Accused Alberto’s silence in allowing the transfer of the PDAF-drawn public funds of accused Clarete despite the non-qualification of KKAMFI, the non-implementation of the PDAF-funded livelihood projects of accused Clarete, and the submission of falsified liquidation documents is tantamount to tacit approval of the crimes as charged,” the Court stated.
On the accused’s collective claim that they acted in good faith and that their acts pertaining to the livelihood projects’ implementation were only ministerial in nature, the Sandiganbayan stressed that “there can be no question that the accused, through respective actions, although some appear to be innocent acts, summed up to collective efforts to achieve the common objective, which is to embezzle the government.”
The 195-page ruling was written by Associate Justice Ronald B. Moreno with the concurrence of Presiding Justice Amparo M. Cabotaje-Tang and Associate Justice Bernelito R. Fernandez.
The unfortunate development for former Mayor Alberto comes just six months after she and other accused were acquitted by another Sandiganbayan division in eight separate graft and malversation cases in connection with the PDAF funds of former Ilocos Sur 2nd District Rep. Thomas Dumpit Jr. that were disbursed in similar fashion.
During the trial, Alberto denied being president of KKAMFI nor an incorporator and insisted no proof exists that she had been an employee or that she received any salary from it.
She likewise denied the signatures to be hers, claiming it was “malayong malayo” from her genuine signatures in the birth certificate of her child and her marriage certificate.
In acquitting her of the charges, the Sandiganbayan First Division said that the fact that she was an employee and/or officer of KKAMFI is, on its own, not enough to hold her liable for graft, absent any active participation in the transactions subject of the cases.
The ruling said that the Court’s examination of her signatures show they are noticeably different from that on KKAMFI document, enough to engender doubt as to their authenticity.
“For this reason, the Court is inclined to believe accused Alberto’s claim that she did not sign the documents, and therefore, did not participate in the commission of the crime charged,” Associate Justice Geraldine Faith Econg ruled.
On the conspiracy charges, it said that the information did not contain a specific description of Alberto’s overt acts in the commission of the crime as the alleged signatures in documents have been sufficiently proven to be not affixed by her.
“To be held guilty as a co-conspirator, accused’s participation in the transaction must be intentional. The overt acts of the accused may either be through active participation in the actual commission of the crime itself, or of moral assistance to his co-conspirators by moving them to execute or implement the criminal plan. Neither is applicable to accused Alberto,” the Court stressed.
None of the accused private individuals, including Alberto, were found, to the degree of moral certainty, to have committed the falsification of the liquidation documents or to have knowingly submitted the falsified documents to the TRC to facilitate the fraudulent release of the funds, it added.