Ombudsman wins bribery case vs. Sarangani prosecutor & aide26 June 2012
The Office of the Ombudsman won the bribery case filed against Alfredo Barcelona, Jr., provincial prosecutor of Sarangani province, and Violeto Novio, his personal assistant, after the Sandiganbayan found them guilty of Direct Bribery as defined and penalized under Article 210 of the Revised Penal Code.
In a 23-page decision penned by Associate Justice Alexander Gesmundo and concurred in by Associate Justices Roland Jurado and Napoleon Inoturan, the Sandiganbayan’s Fifth Division sentenced Barcelona and Novio to suffer the indeterminate penalty of imprisonment of two years, 11 months and 10 days of prision correccional medium to five years, five months and 11 days of prision correccional maximum; with fine of P15,000 each.
The anti-graft court also imposed upon Barcelona the additional penalty of special temporary disqualification.
The Court found that Barcelona connived with Novio in demanding and receiving P5,000 from Ludivico Ripdos, the Chief of Police of Glan, Sarangani province in consideration of the prosecutor’s act to exclude Ripdos as respondent in a criminal case filed before the prosecutor’s office.
On July 26, 2004, Novio was arrested in an entrapment operation by National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) agents after he was caught red-handed receiving the marked money. After the arrest, Novio gave a sworn statement that he was ordered by Barcelona to receive the money.
In its ruling, the Court held that there is competent evidence to sufficiently prove that Barcelona and Novio conspired with each other.
On Barcelona’s claim that he merely instructed Novio to get the records of a pending case from Ripdos, the Court found “no credible reason why Novio (a personal friend of Barcelona), a person without authority and who was not even employed in the Provincial Prosecutor’s Office, was ordered by Barcelona to get [the] records from Ripdos’ office.â€
The Court also found it “puzzling why Barcelona did not ask for the records from the NBI when x x x Barcelona admitted that on July 26, 2004 he had knowledge that the records were with the NBI [.]â€
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