KEY POINTS: [1] The Sandiganbayan has convicted Cebu Provincial Board Member Celestino “Tining” Martinez III and three others for violation of the Anti-Graft and Practices Law allegedly committed 15 years ago.The case involved P20 million from the infamous “pork barrel,” which was intended to assist Bogo farmers, fisherfolk and “marginalized sector” under Department of Agriculture’s “Ginintuang Agrikulturang Makamasa.” The money was released to Bogo Municipality, as PDAF allocation of his mom, then congresswoman Clavel Asas-Martinez. Tining Martinez, then the town mayor, contracted on February 12, 2007 for the loan of the fund to a local cooperative. His co-accused were key municipal officials.(Bogo became a city under Republic Act 9390 on June 16, 2007 but the Supreme Court declared the cityhood of Bogo and 15 other cities only on November 18, 2008.)[2] Tining Martinez said the decision is not yet “final and executory,” he will appeal, and he won’t comment on its “facts and issues” to respect what he called the court’s sub-judice rule.[3] As candidate for congressman against reelectionist Representative Janice Salimbangon, Tining Martinez told broadcaster Jason Monteclar he anticipated the adverse ruling when he decided to run for public office but it won’t “diminish (his) vision” for Cebu’s fourth district.GUILTY, CRIMINALLY AND CIVILLY. The Sandiganbayan — in its ruling promulgated last Monday, February 28, but publicized Wednesday, March 2 — said Tining Martinez was:[a] Guilty, with three others, of conspiring in the commission of Section 3 (e) of the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act, which is “causing undue injury to the government and the program’s intended beneficiaries.” Each was sentenced to six years and one month to 10 years and one day in jail, perpetual disqualification from public office, and loss of all retirement and gratuity benefits.[b] Guilty, with one other public officer, of violating Section 3 (g) of the same law, which is “entering on behalf of the Government into a maliciously and grossly disadvantageous contract.” The two were sentenced to imprisonment of from six years and one month to 10 years and one day, also with the same additional penalties of perpetual disqualification and loss of benefits.Tining Martinez and three others were also ordered to pay the sum of P20 million “immediately” to the National Government, through the Bureau of Treasury.THE OTHERS. The five others charged on September 7, 2009 with Tining Martinez for count one were Vicente Rodriguez, vice mayor; Cresencio Pilapil Verdida, accountant; Rhett Minguez, treasurer; Mary Lou Ursal, budget office; and Julio Ursunal Jr., assistant treasurer. With Martinez, only Verdida, Minguez and Ursunal were found guilty and sentenced. Charges against Rodriguez, the vice mayor, and the councilors were dropped. The case of Ursual, who could not be located, was archived.The one other public officer charged with Martinez for count two was Ursunal Jr., the assistant treasurer and then president of the Bogo Municipal Employees Multi-purpose Cooperative (BMEMPC), a private association.Those who were found liable, the Sandiganbayan said, were the fiscal administrators, without whom the money could not have been released. The court called it a “conspiracy loop.”SORE THUMB. What stuck out like a sore thumb in the use of the money was that some public officials were also borrowers from the P20-million fund, including: mayor Martinez (“fish and prawn pond”), P1.5 million; treasurer Minguez (“mango farm”), P1 million; and assistant Ursunal Jr. (“tricycle units for hire and hog raising”), P.5 million. They got the loans through the coop BMEMPC headed at the time by Ursunal Jr.MAJOR FINDINGS. The anti-graft court Sandiganbayan found that the contract between Bogo and the coop BMEMPC was “grossly and manifestly disadvantageous,” and caused “undue injury,” to the Government and gave “unwarranted benefits” to the coop members.And this: the mayor and the key public officers acted with “manifest partiality, evident bad faith or gross inexcusable negligence” in its contract with the coop.TINING’S DEFENSE. Then mayor Martinez “maintained” that all his actions were backed by “legislative fiat.” Two Sanggunian resolutions ratified the MOA he entered into with BMEMPC. Which also validated, Tining said, the disbursement voucher, obligation request, and the requisition slip that he signed in transferring the money to the coop.The Sandiganbayan said Tining Martinez by his choice of the coop “effectively circumvented” the purpose of the Ginintuan program as it excluded farmers and fisherfolk of Bogo who were supposed to be the bona fide beneficiaries of the P20 million. The ruling called Martinez’s action a “calculated move,” as he signed the MOA with the coop over a month before he signed a MOA with the Department of Agriculture (DA). His MOA with DA-7 was “to have a source for the financial assistance he intended to release” to the coop and not to implement the Ginintuan program.The Sandiganbayan cited a Supreme Court ruling Ampil vs Ombudsman, “As local chief executive, he should have been the first to follow the law and see to it that it was followed by his constituency. Sadly, however, he was the first to break it.”‘WEEKEND FARMERS.” As to the help the mayor got from his co-officials in Bogo, the Sandiganbayan lashed at the “insult” added to the “injury”: “These civil servants even had the gall to declare before this Honorable Court their inane, threadbare excuse that they were not ineligible beneficiaries because they moonlighted as weekend farmers.” A “preposterous” defense, the ruling said, since they are “public employees… required to perform their duties with the highest degree of excellence, professionalism, intelligence and skill.”The court saw among the accused “unity of purpose and unity in the execution of an unlawful objective.” The accused public officers were “hidebound” to examine the disbursement voucher, the MOA and other papers “to ascertain whether it was proper” to sign them and release the money.CORRUPTION PROLOGUE. The 119-page decision of the Sandiganbayan sixth division contains a prologue, an essay of sort, led off by a Pope Francis quote, “Corruption is paid by the poor.” The ruling (SB-15-CRM-0284 and 0285) was penned by Associate Justice Kevin Narce B. Vivero. AJs Sarah Jane T. Fernandez, chairperson, and Karl B. Miranda concurred.