But former Major General Jose Barbieto is cleared of two other cases
For soliciting money from military recruits, a former general and his aide were convicted by the anti-graft court Sandiganbayan of direct bribery and fined for P60,000 ($1,308).
But the general
was cleared in two other cases lodged against him.
In a 43-page
decision on October 14, the court’s Third Division ruled against former Army
Major General Jose T. Barbieto and his aide, Staff Sergeant Roseller A.
Echipare, who allegedly accepted money in exchange for the enlistment of an
applicant to the Philippine Army in January 2008.
“The recruitment
of candidate soldiers applicants to the Philippine Army is not a “transaction”
involving monetary consideration within the purview of Section 3(b) of Republic
Act No. 3019 (The Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act). This pronouncement
however does not completely absolve them from criminal liablity… (as) the
allegations make out a case of direct bribery,” the court said.
Associate Justice
Alex Quiroz penned the ruling concurred in by Presiding Justice Amparo
Babotaje-Tang and Associate Justice Samuel Martires.
The two accused
were sentenced to imprisonment of 3 years, 6 months and 5 days, and fined
P60,000 equivalent to 3 times the amount received from complainant Staff
Sergeant Allan Joel Timbal.
Case records
showed the cases were filed on June 17, 2010 alleging that Barbieto and
Echipare asked Timbal to produce P20,000 in exchange for a favorable action on
the application for enlistment of his brother-in-law Ronald Raut.
The offense
allegedly took place when Barbieto was commanding general of the 4th Infantry
Division assigned in Camp Edilberto Evangelista in Cagayan de Oro City.
Graft,
malversation
Barbieto and
Echipare were originally charged with two counts of graft and one count of
malversation of public funds. However, they were both acquitted of the other
charges on the basis of reasonable doubt.
The second graft
case involved a similar scheme, this time concerning the application for
enlistment of one Private Butch Ramos who was reportedly made to shell out
P25,000 ($544).
In the
malversation case, prosecutors accused Barbieto of pocketing P3 million
($66,000) which was part of the fund allocation for the Balik-Baril program of
the government and the Armed Forces of the Philippines
In clearing the
accused in the second graft charge, the court noted that a key element of the
crime was left in doubt because the name of Ramos was not in the list of
applicants who underwent physical examination by the medical team of the 4th ID
and neither was he included in the list of candidates submitted approved by
Barbieto for training.
On the P3 million
Balik-Baril Funds, the court said that the prosecution filed an unfounded
malversation charge noting that Barbieto was not the accountable officer for
money but Captain Brigen Bitoy, who turned over the sum to her senior officer,
Lt. Jeman Montealto, the unit's special disbursing officer.
In her testimony
during trial, Bitoy admitted that Montealto later gave the P2.8 million balance
back to her custody and she deposited the sum with the Philippine Army’s
account at Land Bank of the Philippines
She said that the
amount of P322,000 ($7,000) have already been paid out to rebels who
surrendered 31 firearms in early 2008.
“Although the
prosecution attempted to establish and provide certain circumstances
surrounding the Balik-Baril program that an ordinary prudent man may find
suspicious, if an act is susceptible of two meanings, the court takes a firm
stance that in the absence of proof beyond reasonable doubt, the scale of the
balance shall always tilt in favor of the innocence of the accused,” the
Sandiganbayan said.
http://www.rappler.com/nation/109402-general-aide-convicted-bribe
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