THE Sandiganbayan has sentenced a former Bureau of Customs official to a jail term ranging from six months to six years for falsifying his personal data sheet in June 2009.
In a 20-page order dated April 20, the anti-graft court found Filomeno Vicencio Jr. guilty beyond reasonable doubt of falsification after Ombudsman prosecutors proved that he falsely claimed in his PDS to be a graduate of the University of the East.
Prosecutors presented witnesses and documents to prove that Vicencio Jr. was never a student nor a graduate of the university.
The anti-graft court stated that “the accomplishment and submission of PDS was a duty borne out of every public officer like Vicencio and the disclosure of where and when he obtained his bachelor’s degree is a vital information since this renders him qualified for the position.”
The court held that “even if it were [his] son who had written down the untruthful statement, the fact remains that he had assented to it by virtue of his signature on the document, appropriating the falsehood as his own… and [had] he really intended to correct the erroneous entry, he could have retrieved the document itself.”
The anti-graft court also pointed out that Vicencio did not disclose information as to where and when he obtained his bachelor’s degree, lending credence to the conclusion that he intended to falsely state that he is a graduate of UE in order to qualify for the position of Director III.
Vicencio was appointed on May 26, 2009 and assumed the position of customs director III on June 10, 2009.
On June 16, 2009, he submitted his PDS to the human resource office, indicating therein that he graduated from UE in 1969.
The anti-graft court also meted out a P1,000 fine on Vicencio.