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Former SBMA official convicted for non-existent MOA
14 June 2011, source: Ombudsman Website

A former corporate secretary of the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) was meted six – eight years imprisonment for certifying that a Memorandum of Agreement providing for the transfer of about P40M equipment had been ratified and approved. No such MOA however exists.

          In a nine-page Decision, the Olongapo City Regional Trial Court found Atty. Hedy Esmade-Diaz guilty beyond reasonable doubt for Falsification of Document defined and penalized under Art. 141, par. 4 of the Revised Penal Code.

          Records of the case revealed that during an inventory of the properties of the SBMA, it was discovered that certain numbers of equipment and vehicles were missing, and were later traced to be transferred to the City Government of Olongapo, on the basis of a purported Joint Redevelopment and Administration Agreement (JRAA) and “Memorandum of Agreement” (MOA).

          In her Secretary’s Certificate dated 16 July 1998, Diaz stated:

          “x x x

1.    During the One Hundred Ninetieth Regular Meeting of the Board of Directors of the SBMA held last 06 May 1998 at which a quorum was present, the following resolution was unanimously approved:

RESOLVED, AS IT IS HEREBY RESOLVED, that the Memorandum of Agreement between the City of Olongapo and Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) for SBMA to provide the City of Olongapo hospital equipment, public utilities and vehicle is hereby ratified, confirmed and approved.”

          During trial however, Prosecution Bureau Director Rodrigo Coquia of the Office of the Ombudsman’s Office of the Special Prosecutor (OMB-OSP) presented evidence to prove that the said MOA was not included in the Agenda in the Notice of the 190th Meeting of the Board of Directors of the SBMA.

          On the other hand, the purported JRAA was signed by only two of the 15-member board.

          The Decision stated that the certification issued by Diaz caused SBMA to be deprived “of the properties, equipment and vehicles which were transferred in favor of the City government of Olongapo.”

          She was thus sentenced to serve an indeterminate penalty of imprisonment of from six (6) years and one (1) day to eight ( years both of prision mayor.  The decision was penned by the Hon. Presiding Judge, Richard A. Paradeza.

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