Ex-Sibugay vice gov gets 194 years for P.5-M graft

A former vice governor of Zamboanga Sibugay has been sentenced to a maximum of 194 years in prison for pocketing municipal funds amounting to P593,500.

Eugenio Famor was found guilty of seven counts each of violation of the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act and malversation of public funds through falsification of public documents, according to a 73-page decision released yesterday by the Sandiganbayan’s First Division.

Famor was also ordered to pay a fine equivalent to the amount of public funds he misappropriated.

Famor’s co-accused former provincial employees Erlinda Albelda and Daylinda Balbosa were meted the same prison term. Court records showed Albelda has died while Balbosa remains at large.

Based on the complaints filed by the Office of the Ombudsman in 2010, Famor conspired with Albelda and Balbosa to release the funds from August 2001 to January 2002 to pay supposed beneficiaries of the provincial government’s Aid to the Poor program.

Investigation showed the accused falsified disbursement vouchers and other documents to ensure the release of the money “for their personal use and benefits.”

The court cited a report of the Commission on Audit that all the 131 persons listed as beneficiaries of the program were not located.

The court also gave credence to the testimony of prosecution witness and former head of the Provincial Social Welfare Development Office Cherlita Garate that Famor’s staff pressured her into signing reimbursement papers despite incomplete documents.

“All these point to a fraudulent scheme of using a legitimate program…to funnel government funds for accused’s personal use,” the ruling penned by Associate Justice Geraldine Faith Econg and concurred by Associate Justices Efren de la Cruz and Edgardo Caldona read.

The Sandiganbayan said Famor’s prison term could be reduced under the three-fold rule of the Revised Penal Code.