Sandiganbayan building in Quezon City 鈥擨NQUIRER PHOTO
The Sandiganbayan has cleared five former board members of the Philippine Rice Research Institute (PhilRice) of complicity in an anomalous car plan scheme in 2009.
Acquitted of two counts of graft were Johnifer Batara, Fe Laysa, William Padolina, Senen Bacani and Rodolfo Undan, all former members of PhilRice鈥檚 board of trustees.
Also acquitted was then PhilRice cashier Fe Lumawag, who supposedly signed the hold-out agreements for the car plan program.
No ill motive
In acquitting them, the antigraft court鈥檚 Sixth Division said in a Dec. 2 decision that the prosecution 鈥渇ailed to prove any perverse or ill motive鈥� in the implementation of the car plan.
It also ruled that the five officials had no hand in the execution of hold-out agreements for the car plan that was 鈥渟inglehandedly implemented鈥� by then PhilRice Executive Director Ronilo Beronio without the final approval of the board.
鈥淚n this case, while the [board] approved in principle the piloting of a car plan, there was never a discussion during the meetings on the execution of the [hold-out agreements] to secure the vehicles that will be acquired,鈥� the court said.
鈥淚n fact, the [board] resolved that the car plan was still subject to certain conditions before it can be fully implemented to ensure that its terms will be most advantageous to the government,鈥� it added.
Under the scheme, which Beronio pitched as a 鈥渟pecial way of allowing deserving employees to own a vehicle through hard and dedicated work at PhilRice,鈥� the institute will pay for the three-year rental of a beneficiary鈥檚 car at an average of P360,000 per year as well as fuel expenses if used for official purposes.
After this period, the beneficiary would have to pay the remaining amortization balance of the car. Among the vehicles purchased under the scheme was Hyundai Grand Starex.
But under the hold-out agreements, PhilRice would not be able to withdraw an aggregate total of P15.78 million from its Philippine National Bank (PNB) account. The amount is equivalent to the loans of the car plan beneficiaries.
With a valid cause
The Sandiganbayan said the car plan was 鈥渄one in good faith and with a valid cause鈥攖he prevention of brain drain in PhilRice,鈥� while also providing the transportation needs of its employees.
The agreements were also 鈥渘ot grossly and manifestly disadvantageous to the government鈥� as the amount under the car plan was 鈥渆xcess鈥� from old projects.
鈥淭he money was not for urgent use and was already lodged as savings, checking, and/or time deposit with PNB 鈥� The funds would remain as PhilRice deposits with PNB which will eventually gain interest over time. True enough, the amounts were returned to PhilRice at the end of the [hold-out agreements] with earned interest,鈥� the court said.
The charges against former Agriculture Secretary Arthur Yap, another co-respondent in the graft cases, were dismissed by the Supreme Court in January 2023 for 鈥渋nordinate delay.鈥�