PRESS RELEASE

22 July 2010

The Sandiganbayan 1^st Division sentenced an Assistant Provincial Prosecutor of Lianga, Surigao del Sur of imprisonment of from six months to four years and two months after finding him guilty of the crime of Direct Bribery.

          The case stemmed from a complaint filed by one Remedios Maloboco against Teofilo Manuel, Jr.

          In her complaint, Maloboco alleged that her father had filed an estafa case against a certain Alfredo Bandibas before the Prosecutor’s Office in Lianga, Suriago del Sur, which was eventually handled by Manuel. After preliminary investigation, Manuel recommended the filing of the information for Estafa before the Regional Trial Court of Lianga. When Bandibas filed a motion to defer proceedings before the trial court, Remedios requested Manuel to draft a reply for their case. She said initially, Manuel refused to comply with the request, but later gave in, in exchange for P6,000. The two agreed to meet at a fast-food restaurant in Butuan City.

Before meeting the accused however, she sought the help of the NBI-Caraga, which conducted an entrapment operation that led to the arrest in flagrante delicto of the accused.

During trial, the prosecution team of the Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP) led by Assistant Special Prosecutor II Myla Trinidad-Radoc presented as witnesses the private complainant herself, the NBI agents who conducted the entrapment operation, as well as the marked money amounting to P6,000 consisting of 12 pieces of P500 bills.

In his testimony, Manuel denied the accusation against him.

In a 14-page Decision, the Sandiganbayan said the crime of Direct Bribery (Art 210 of the Revised Penal Code) has the following elements:

1.     That the accused is a public officer;

2.    That the received directly or through another some gift or present, offer of promise;

3.    That such gift, present or promise has been given in consideration of his commission of some crime, or any act not constituting a crime, or to refrain from doing something which is his official duty to do; and

4.    That the crime or act relates to the exercise of his functions as a public officer.

It said “the prosecution was able to prove all the foregoing elements of the crime of Direct Bribery”, thus finding Manuel guilty beyond reasonable doubt of the said crime.

The Anti-graft court sentenced Manuel to suffer the indeterminate penalty of six months of arresto mayor as minimum, to four years and two months of prision correccional in its medium period as maximum, and to pay a fine of P12,000 with subsidiary imprisonment in case of insolvency.##