Villanueva v. People
G.R. No. 237738
June 10, 2019
FACTS:
This
case stemmed from an Information for violation of Section 7 ( d) of RA 6713
before the First Municipal Circuit Trial Court of Claveria-Sta. Praxedes,
Claveria, Cagayan (MCTC). According to
the prosecution, petitioner was the Assistant Regional Director of the
Cooperative Development Authority (CDA) for Region II. While in the performance
of her official functions, as well as by taking advantage of her office, she
willfully obtained a Pl,000,000.00 loan from the Claveria Agri-Based
MultiPurpose Cooperative, Incorporated (CABMPCI), thereby violating the
aforesaid provision of law which prohibits/disallows public officials/employees
from directly/indirectly accepting/soliciting any loan or anything of monetary
value from any person in the course of their official duties or in connection
with any operation being regulated by, or any transaction which may be affected
by the functions of their office, to the prejudice of the government and public
interest. In her defense, petitioner maintained that the loans were obtained by
virtue of her membership in CABMPCI, and that the same had already been paid.
Notably, she claimed that notwithstanding her position in the CDA, she was
nevertheless allowed under RA 6938, otherwise known as the "Cooperative
Code of the Philippines," to become a member of a cooperative. Hence, she
asserted that she may enjoy her rights incidental to her membership in CABMPCI,
and consequently, allowed to obtain Ioans.
ISSUE:
Whether
or not the Sandiganbayan erred in upholding the conviction of petitioner for
violation of Sec 7 (d) of RA 6713
HELD:
Section
7 (d) of RA 6713 provides that: (d) Solicitation or acceptance of gifts. -
Public officials and employees shall not solicit or accept, directly or
indirectly, any gift, gratuity, favor, entertainment, loan or anything of
monetary value from any person in the course of their official duties or in
connection with any operation being regulated by. or any transaction which may
be affected by the functions of their office.I n order to sustain a conviction
for violation of Section 7 ( d) of RA 6713, the following elements must be
proved with moral certainty: (a) that
the accused is a public official or employee; ( b) that the accused solicited
or accepted any loan or anything of monetary value from any person; and (c)
that the said act was done in the course of the accused's official duties or in
connection with any operation being regulated by, or any transaction which may
be affected by the functions of his office.
In this
case, the prosecution was able to establish all the foregoing elements,
considering that: (a) at the time the subject loans were obtained, petitioner
was a public official; ( b) she solicited and accepted the subject loans from
CABMPCI, which was a cooperative that was being regulated by her office; and
(c) based on her own admission, the subject loans were obtained from CABMPCI, the
transactions and operations of which are regulated by the functions of
petitioner's office.
No comments:
Post a Comment