THE Office of the Ombudsman on Monday said former police chief superintendent and Criminal Investigation and Detention Group head Eduardo Matillano pleaded guilty to three counts of perjury and eight counts of violation of Section 8 of the Code of Conduct and Ethical Standards of Public Officials and Employees or Republic Act No. 6713.
Through his counsel, Matillano urged the court to allow him to withdraw his previous plea of not guilty, and manifested that he fully understood the nature and cause of the accusations against him.
The prosecution posted no objection to the motion.
In a three-page decision, the Sandiganbayan sentenced Matillano to up to a year in prison for each count of perjury, and to pay a fine of P1,000 for each count of violation of RA 6713.
The Ombudsman indicted Matillano for failure to file his Statement of Assets, Liabilities and Net Worth in 1994 to 2000 and 2004, and failure to declare in his 2001 to 2003 SALNs five real properties in Antipolo City, Rizal and Palawan, 10 different motor vehicles, business interests and financial connections to Palawan Agromate Products Inc., First Food Caterer's and Managers Corp., Warbird Security Investigation Agency Inc., and two other firms.
Meanwhile, the Ombudsman convicted former Lucena City mayor Ramon Talaga, along with the city’s technical evaluation committee members, for graft.
The conviction was obtained after the prosecution established beyond reasonable doubt that Talaga's group acted with gross inexcusable negligence in awarding the P30-million contract to Amellar Solutions for the city’s 2012 “Web-based Computerized Revenue Generation System.”