By: Czarina Nicole Ong Ki
The Sandiganbayan Fifth Division has convicted former Local Water Utilities Administration (LWUA) chief Prospero “Butch” Pichay of graft and breach of conduct charges in relation to the illegal sponsorship of a chess tournament in 2010.
Pichay, who also heads the National Chess Federation of the Philippines (NCFP) – until now, violated Section 3(e) of R.A. 3019 and Section 7(a) of R.A. 6713 for giving unwarranted benefits and advantage to the NCFP in the amount of P1.5 million.
He voted for the approval of the said amount for chess events, even though sponsoring of sporting events was not among LWUA’s primary purposes.
Pichay is currently the representative of Surigao del Sur’s 1st district in the Congress.
Pichay was sentenced to suffer imprisonment of 6 to 10 years with perpetual disqualification from holding public office because of the graft charge.
He was also ordered to pay a fine of P5,000 because of his breach of conduct conviction.
Apart from Pichay, also convicted were former acting deputy administrator for Investment and Financial Services Wilfredo M. Feleo and former senior deputy administrator Emmanuel Malicdem.
