BY CZARINA NICOLE ONG-KI
Former Ronda Mayor Esteban R. Sia of Cebu has been convicted by the Sandiganbayan Fifth Division for his failure to properly liquidate travel and intelligence funds from 2007 to 2010.
He was found guilty beyond reasonable doubt of violating Article 218 of the Revised Penal Code, otherwise known as Failure to Render Accounts.
Sia was imposed a penalty of just P6,000 given his willingness to pay the amount of unliquidated cash advances totalling P2,597,560.70.
Sia received P2,597,560.70 for his official travels, intelligence funds, and other office activities from 2007 to 2010.
However, he failed to render accounts within the specified time frame in violation of Commission on Audit (CoA) Circular No. 97-002 in relation to the Government Auditing Code (Presidential Decree 1445) and the Government Accounting and Auditing Manual (GAAM).
The former municipal mayor said in his defense that he entrusted the liquidation of his cash advances to his secretary and that he failed to do so because of non-availability of records.
However, the anti-graft court said that his claim was “not meritorious” because the law specifically assigns the head of agency to take responsibility of all property and funds that pertains to his office.
The 87-page decision was penned by Associate Justice Maria Theresa Mendoza-Arcega and concurred in by Fifth Division Chairperson Rafael Lagos and Associate Justice Maryann Corpus-Mañalac.
