Former Sumisip, Basilan Mayor Haber Amin Asarul and Municipal Treasurer Camlian Borjal were convicted by the Sandiganbayan of 20 counts of violation of Section 6(b) of Republic Act No. 8291 (Government Insurance Service System Act); 19 counts of Section 5 Rule VI of the Implementing Rules and Regulations of Presidential Decree 1752 (Home Development Mutual Fund Law); and 23 counts of violation of Section 2.81 of Bureau of Internal Revenue Regulation No. 2-98 in relation to Section 272(b) of Republic Act No. 8424 (National Internal Revenue Code).
Documents revealed that during the incumbency of Asarul, the municipality failed to remit GSIS contributions from October 2007 to May 2008 while delayed remittances were reported from June 2008 to May 2009. In addition, for the period from October 2007 to May 2009, Asarul and Borjal failed to remit the Pag-ibig contributions on time. Untimely remittances of taxes were also found to have been committed from July 2007 to May 2009.
After being informed of the nature of the allegations, both accused waived the full reading of the Informations in the cases. Upon their re-arraignment, Asarul and Borjal, assisted by their counsel, manifested to the court their change of plea from “not guilty” to “guilty.”
The Sandiganbayan sentenced them to each pay a fine of P5,000.00 in each of the cases. ###