A mayor in Iloilo who was accused of involvement in a fertilizer scam amounting to P999,000 has pleaded guilty to a lesser offense in a plea bargain with the prosecution.
Mayor Alex Centena of Calinog, Iloilo has pleaded guilty for failure of accountable officer to render accounts, an offense punishable under Article 218 of the Revised Penal Code.
He and his co-accused were originally charged with graft.
The Sandiganbayan’s Seventh Division, in a decision dated April 11, approved Centena’s and his co-accused’s plea to a lesser offense and imposed a fine of P5,000 on each of them.
Centena was charged together with then municipal officials Valentin Sobretodo, Meriam Celeste, Crispino Castro, Jose Rex Casipe, Melanie Hilario, Rhoda Lyn Panizales, Jose Edeso Enriquez, and Anna Lerio Caspillo.
The Ombudsman earlier filed charges against Centena and his co-accused for purchasing 666 bottles of Bio Nature Liquid Fertilizers from Feshan Philippines Inc. without public bidding.
Centena and his co-accused expressed their intention to enter into a plea bargaining agreement during the preliminary conference prior to arraignment. Ombudsman Samuel Martires approved the deal.
Centena would have settled the civil liability of P999,000 but a miscommunication with the municipal treasurer of Calinog prevented him from doing so, Centena’s lawyer said.
The Sandiganbayan, however, ruled that all the accused, not just Centena, were required to jointly pay the amount representing the undue injury they caused to the local government.
Associate Justice Ma. Theresa Dolores Gomez-Estoesta, the division’s chairman wrote the decision. Associate Justices Zaldy Trespeses and Georgina Hidalgo concurred.
