The Office of the Ombudsman secured the conviction of former Sampaloc, Quezon Mayor Samson Delgado for misappropriating the municipality’s P250,000.00 loan intended for a local housing project.
In a 20-page Decision penned by Sandiganbayan Associate Justice Oscar Herrera, Jr., Delgado was found guilty beyond reasonable doubt of Estafa under Article 315 of the Revised Penal Code and was sentenced to imprisonment of one month and one day to one year and eight months.
It was uncovered that in 1998, Delgado received a check for P250,000.00 representing the loan granted by Seaway Lending Corporation to the municipality. Records show that the loan proceeds were not turned over and accounted for, resulting to the shelving of the housing project for almost a decade.
According to the Sandiganbayan Decision, “when the check was placed in the custody of the Mayor, it created as between him and Seaway Lending a fiduciary relationship that obliged him to deliver the amount, represented by the check, to the Municipality in whose behalf and under whose authority he was only acting.”
“Such nonfeasance of Delgado has resulted in the two-pronged prejudice against both the Municipality as the intended debtor and Seaway Lending Inc. as the unpaid creditor,” it added.
The court also ordered Delgado to pay Seaway P250,000.00 representing the money misappropriated subject to legal interest until its full satisfaction. ###