The Supreme Court has upheld a guilty verdict against a former Leyte municipal budget officer who allegedly falsified plane tickets in April 1998 which was issued to another person.
THE Supreme Court has upheld a guilty verdict of a former municipal budget officer of La Paz, Leyte who was convicted after falsifying a plane ticket issued to another person.
In a decision dated March 3, the SC’s Special First Division affirmed the Court of Appeals (CA) ruling upholding a trial court decision sentencing Emerito Terado to up to two years in prison and a fine of P5,000 and ordering him to pay the cost of the suit.
Terado was convicted by the Abuyog, Leyte Regional Trial Court in 2012 for violation of Republic Act 3019 (Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act) and falsification of private documents.
According to the court, Terado falsified a Cebu Pacific plane ticket worth P4,000 issued in the name of another person, Editha Labanta, for a round trip between Tacloban City and Manila, to make it appear that the said ticket was issued to him (Terado) instead of Labanta for his travel from Tacloban to Manila in April 1998.
It was later found out that Terado did not take the flight and has instead traveled by land to save some money.
Evidence regarding Terado’s travel expenses revealed that the plane ticket contained erasures and, upon verification with the local airline representative, had been issued to another person as verified by the Commission on Audit (COA).
The findings also showed Terado was not listed as a passenger in Cebu Pacific's flight manifests for the said dates in April 1998.
Terado has denied the accusations, claiming that it was an act of retaliation by municipal health officer Dr. Sarah Balis who filed the complaint.
The convicted official alleged that Balis was angry at him for disapproving her subsistence allowance. (JKA/With report from PNA)
Tags: #OpinYon8, #SupremeCourt, #LaPazLeyte, #graftandcorruption