Leyte municipal chief executive, 2 others face graft charges

ISABEL ( Leyte) Mayor Saturnino Medina Jr. and two other individuals are facing graft cases before the Sandiganbayan in connection with the sale/ purchase made by the municipality involving two vehicles.

In one charge sheet, the Office of the Ombudsman accused the following of violating Section 3( e) of the Anti- Graft and Corrupt Practices Act: Mr. Medina; Perla Brebante, who was then- municipal administrator at the time material to the case; and Nolette Medina.

The Ombudsman alleged “[ t] hat for the period from August to December 2010, or sometime prior or subsequent thereto,” Mr. Medina and Brebante, “conspiring, confederating and mutually helping one another and with... Nolette B. Medina [ Nolette], accused Saturnino’s spouse, did then and there willfully, unlawfully and criminally cause undue injury to the government by approving and causing the sale/ purchase of two vehicles, namely:” a van, which was supposedly “owned by the spouses Medina and registered in the name of Nolette, in the amount of P546,000.00 but which vehicle” supposedly “had a market value of P396,000.00 only; and” a vehicle, which was supposedly “owned by Brebante, in the amount of P648,500.00, but which” supposedly “had the acquisition cost of PhP600,000.00 only...”

Thereby, according to the charge sheet, the accused allegedly gave “unwarranted benefits to themselves and caus[ ed] undue injury to the government in the total amount of P198,500.00, more or less, representing the” alleged “overprice in the sale/ purchase of the aforementioned vehicles...”

In a separate charge sheet, the Ombudsman accused Mr. Medina, Brebante and Nolette Medina of violating Section 3( h) of the anti- graft law.

The Ombudsman alleged “[ t] hat for the period from August to December 2010, or sometime prior or subsequent thereto,” Mr. Medina and Brebante, “conspiring, confederating and mutually helping one another and with” Nolette Medina, “did then and there willfully, unlawfully and criminally have direct or indirect financial or pecuniary interest in the sale/ purchase made by the Municipality of Isabel involving the” two above- mentioned vehicles.

The Ombudsman alleged that Mr. Medina and Brebante intervened or took part, “in their official capacities [ at that time] as [ then-] municipal officers, in the said contracts entered into by the Municipality of Isabel, despite the prohibition from having such interest under Section 89 of the Local Government Code of 1991 and Section 7( a) of the Code of Conduct and Ethical Standard for Public Officials and Employees...”

The Ombudsman recommended a total of P60,000 bail for each of the accused.