Former Virac Mayor Flerida Antonio-Alberto has been acquitted in another PDAF scam case, this one allegedly committed in Bulacan province, but her motion for reconsideration in the Misamis Occidental pork barrel case was denied by the Sandiganbayan also last week.
In its decision on twin criminal cases for violation of Section 3(e) of Republic Act No. 2019, as amended, and for malversation of public funds, the graft court’s Third Division dismissed both charges against Alberto for failure of the prosecution to prove her guilt beyond reasonable doubt.
The cases against co-accused Allan A. Javellana, Marilou L. Antonio and Carmelita C. Barredo were archived as they remain at large, Presiding Justice Amparo Cabotaje-Tang stated in 102-page ruling released last week and concurred by Associate Justices Bernelito Fernandez and Ronald Moreno.
Information filed before the graft court alleged that sometime in March 2007 in Pasig City, Javellana, then president of National Agribusiness Corporation (NABCOR) conspired with the other accused in funneling P9.7 million sourced from the Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) allocation of the late Representative Eduardo Roquero to Kabuhayan at Kalusugang Alay sa Masa Foundation, Inc. (KKAMFI) for a bogus livelihood project involving the distribution of 4,850 sets of Livelihood Technology Kits.
Antonio, as KKAMFI’s project coordinator, allegedly received the checks from NABCOR, issued official receipts, and submitted liquidation reports for the purported project while her sister, Alberto, as KKAMFI president, issued a purchase order to C.C. Barredo Publishing House for the delivery of the kits.
Prosecution witness Atty. Herald Rivera of the Ombudsman Field Investigation Office testified that a fact-finding investigation showed that the P10 million PDAF allocation of Cong. Roquero was disbursed by NABCOR but the livelihood program it was supposed to finance was not at all implemented since the livelihood kits were not delivered and distributed to the intended beneficiaries as testified to by barangay officials concerned as testified to by barangay officials concerned.
Rivera said that KKKAMFI was incorporated only in October 2006 and was granted a business permit only on Jan. 30, 2007, or 34 days before it entered into the deal with NABCOR.
On the other hand, it was confirmed that the PO issued by Alberto to CC Barredo as well as the Invoice and Delivery Receipt of the kits bore the same date of March 21, 2007, which means that the order for the kits and their delivery were all performed and completed on the same day, which is highly improbable according to Rivera.
CC Barredo also reported gross receipts of only P300,000 in 2007 but the kits it sold to KKAMFI amounted to P9.7 million.
Rivera also stated that Alberto is not included in the list of persons considered liable for the scam by the Commission on Audit and that she was no longer an officer or board member of KKAMFI for 2009 and succeeding years.
In her defense, the former mayor told the Sandiganbayan that she does not know any of her co-accused except for her sister, Antonio, whom she has not seen for a long time.
She also claimed that she only learned about KKAMFI when the cases against her were filed and that the signatures above her name in the documents are not hers, presenting as evidence the signatures on checks and birth certificates she submitted to the court.
Initially denying having implemented a similar livelihood project, Alberto was shown a memorandum of agreement signed by her as Virac mayor with two NGOs – Kaagapay Magpakailanman Foundation and Gabay at Pag-asa ng Masa Foundation.
In its ruling, the Sandiganbayan found that accused Alberto’s participation in the alleged conspiracy was not adequately proven with moral certainty, as the prosecution did not present witnesses who had personal knowledge that she signed the PO or any of the incorporation documents of KKAMFI.
The Court’s examination of the questioned signatures of Alberto vis-à-vis her genuine signatures show that the same were not written by the same person, with the differences between them evident even to the untrained eye.
“The differences in the questioned and admitted genuine signatures lend credence to the defense’s position that the name, signature, and identity of accused Alberto were used, without her knowledge, to further the scheme to defraud the government,” the graft court stressed.
While the corporate documents of KKAMFI enjoys the prima facie presumption of authenticity and due execution, as well as the full faith and credence attached to a public instrument, the said legal presumption was overturned by clear and convincing evidence that there was indeed a forgery, it concluded.
Alberto’s alleged participation in the PDAF conspiracy, based mainly on her being an officer and her purported signatures, is also at the center of similar cases filed against her and other co-accused.
Based on her claim that her signatures had been forged, she was acquitted in eight separate graft and malversation cases in November 2023 in connection with the PDAF funds of former Ilocos Sur 2nd District Rep. Thomas Dumpit Jr. that were disbursed in similar fashion.
Last week, however, the Sandiganbayan denied the motion for reconsideration she and four other former officials of the Technology Resource Center (TRC) and KKAMFI filed concerning the court’s adverse decision on their involvement in bogus livelihood projects funded by former Misamis Occidental Rep. Marina Clarete.
The resolution dated Nov. 6, upheld the June 28, 2024 decision sentencing Alberto to a prison sentence of more than 110 years and the others to similarly lengthy incarceration for involvement in the P62-million PDAF scam.