PB member Tining, 3 others convicted over P20M agri fund

CEBU Provincial Board (PB) Member and former Bogo City mayor Celestino “Tining” Martinez III and three others were found guilty of graft by the Sandiganbayan for granting themselves loans from a P20 million grant intended for farmers, fisherfolk and other marginalized sectors.Martinez, an ex-officio member of the PB due to his role as president of Cebu Province’s Liga ng mga Barangay (LMB), has been sentenced to face imprisonment of up to 10 years.Aside from Martinez, also found guilty were former Bogo municipal accountant Crescencio Verdida, former municipal treasurer Rhett Minguez and former assistant municipal treasurer Julio Ursonal Jr.Pending her arrest, the case against former municipal budget officer Mary Lou Ursal remains archived.Aside from serving prison sentences, the four were perpetually disqualified from holding public office and were ordered to pay P20 million worth of civil liabilities to the national government.In a text message to SunStar Cebu Wednesday, March 2, Martinez said the decision of the Sandiganbayan was not “final and executory,” adding that he plans to appeal the matter in court.The case stemmed from a letter-complaint filed with the Office of the Ombudsman-Visayas against Martinez when he was still mayor of the former municipality (now city) of Bogo in northern Cebu back in 2007.In a 119-page decision promulgated on Monday, Feb. 28, 2022, the Sandiganbayan’s Sixth Division said they decided to convict Martinez and his three co-accused after the Ombudsman, which served as the prosecution, was able to prove that the four violated Sections 3(e) and 3(g) of Republic Act (RA) 3019, or the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act.Section 3(e) states that a public official can be penalized if it is proven that he is “causing any undue injury to any party, including the Government, or giving any private party any unwarranted benefits, advantage or preference in the discharge of his official administrative or judicial functions through manifest partiality, evident bad faith or gross inexcusable negligence.”Section 3(g) prohibits public officials from “entering, on behalf of the Government, into any contract or transaction manifestly and grossly disadvantageous to the same, whether or not the public officer profited or will profit thereby.”Fund transferIn 2007, the Department of Agriculture in Central Visayas (DA 7) transferred to Bogo (which was then a town) a P20 million financial grant sourced from the Ginintuang Agrikulturang Makamasa (GAM) program.The transfer was requested by Tining’s mother Clavel, who was then congresswoman of Cebu’s Fourth District.Bogo, in turn, tapped the Bogo Municipal Employees Multi-Purpose Cooperative (BMEMPC) as its partner in implementing the program.AgreementThe two parties signed a memorandum of agreement (MOA) on Feb. 12, 2007.Ursonal, apart from being the assistant municipal treasurer, was then BMEMPC’s president and chairman.Under Bogo’s agreement with the BMEMPC, the municipality transferred P20 million to the cooperative as “financial assistance for the purpose of extending sources of funds to all members who intend to establish livelihood projects or expand such projects.”But according to the Ombudsman’s complaint, none of the assistance went to the town’s farmers, fishermen and members of other marginalized sectors, who should have been identified as GAM program beneficiaries.According to the Ombudsman, the BMEMPC disbursed P10.3 million to 179 of its members in April and May in 2007 as salary loans and without any declared livelihood or agricultural project, to elective officials and municipal employees, including Martinez who took out a loan of P5.5 million for his fish and prawn pond; Minguez who borrowed P1 million for his mango farm; and Ursonal who borrowed P500,000 for his tricycle and hog raising businesses.In their ruling, the Sandiganbayan found sufficient evidence to prove that Martinez and his co-accused conspired with one another in illegally lending out the funds aimed at aiding their town’s agricultural sector, thus violating RA 3019.ConduitThe anti-graft court said they also found evidence that Martinez and his co-accused criminally diverted or siphoned public funds for their benefit by using BMEMPC as a “conduit” for public funds and making the fund available exclusively to BMEMPC members.“As signatory to said MOA, accused Martinez III cannot feign ignorance that said funds should primarily, directly and exclusively be used to address the major concerns of the Agriculture and Fisheries Modernization Act (AFMA). Diversion of said funds to BMEMPC and their distribution, as loans to members of BMEMPC, defeats the overarching policy objectives of the AFMA. The Prosecution’s argument is right on the money,” the Sandiganbayan added in its decision.The anti-graft court also found that Martinez committed gross inexcusable negligence when he “acted on his own initiative and without prior authorization of the Sangguniang Bayan when he prematurely sealed the deal with BMEMPC for the P20 million fund transfer.”“As it turned out, he (Martinez) got the lion’s share thereof to the tune of P5 1/2 million,” the decision added.They also found that Martinez and his co-accused committed “manifest partiality” for serving as certifying and approving officers who facilitated the release of the P20 million from the town’s coffers to the BMEMPC.“In the end, the four accused became the primary beneficiaries of the very thing which they, as Lingkod Bayan, should have distributed to farmers and fisherfolks,” the Sandiganbayan said, in their decision.“Lamentably, they capitalized on the opportunity for self-aggrandizement while aggravating the hardscrabble life and immiseration of disadvantaged have-nots. They stole their ‘ayuda.’ To add insult to 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,” they added.UndeterredMartinez, who is running as a congressional candidate for Cebu’s Fourth District, said the anti-graft court’s decision will not deter his campaign.“When I decided to run for office, I had already anticipated that this would happen. Thus, this will not diminish my steadfast commitment towards my vision for the 4th District of Cebu,” Martinez added.Martinez is set to challenge incumbent Rep. Janice Salimbangon (Cebu, fourth) in the May polls.