A MILITARY officer tagged in an unlawful sale of generators worth P1.2 million was convicted of graft and malversation by the Sandiganbayan, the Office of the Ombudsman said Friday.
The anti-graft court found Dante Senen, an engineer and supply accountable officer of the Armed Forces of the Philippines’s military supply unit based in Cebu City, guilty beyond reasonable doubt of violation of Section 3(e) of the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act or Republic Act 3019 and malversation under Article 217 of the Revised Penal Code.
He was sentenced to a jail term of six to 10 years imprisonment for graft and 10 to 18 years for malversation.
The Ombudsman prosecutors charged Senen, along with then Philippine Air Force Brig. Gen. Vladimir delos Trino, Maj. Antonio Jason Garcia and Antonio Ularte of Eduard Enterprises for the unlawful sale of four power generators valued at P1,200,000 before the Sandiganbayan in 2005.
Senen remained at-large during the trial.
Six months after De los Trino and Garcia’s conviction, Senen was arrested inside Camp Crame, Quezon City on Nov. 21, 2011.
On the other hand, Ularte remains at-large.
The Ombudsman maintained Senen was the accountable officer in charge of the generators sold to Ularte for only P800,000 without the benefit of a public bidding, giving unwarranted benefit to Ularte to the prejudice of the government.
The proceeds of the sale remain unaccounted for.
In a 20-page decision penned by Associate Justice Samuel Martires, the anti-graft court held “the evidence presented is sufficient to prove the guilt of the accused as his actions from the time of the disposal of the generators amount to gross inexcusable negligence.”
“If accused Senen is indeed innocent or unaware of the grand plan of accused Delos Trino and Garcia, he should have immediately reported the incident to his commanding officer to properly address the same or prevent the disposal of generators,” the decision read.
According to the Ombudsman, Senen was also perpetually disqualified from holding public office and ordered to indemnify the government of P1,200,000.
Also, the anti-graft court directed Senen to pay a P1,200,000 fine.
“The prosecution was adequately able to establish that through the illegal sale of the four generators, the PAF of the AFP lost P1.2 million in revenue,” it stressed.