BAGUIO CITY – The Municipal Trial Court in Cities (MTCC) Branch 4 found the barangay treasurer of Camp 7 guilty of malversation of public funds and imposed upon him the penalty of imprisonment of one year and one day to three years and seven months.
In a 5-page decision, Judge Maria Clarita Casuga-Tabin ordered Camp 7 barangay treasurer Romel H. Beltran to suffer the penalty of perpetual special disqualification and imposed a fine of P170 or serve the subsidiary imprisonment of 20 days in case of insolvency.
Beltran was charged for malversation of public funds when he appropriated public funds amounting to P170 for his personal benefit.
However, Beltran alleged that the documentary evidences were hearsay, uncorroborated and self-serving but the court decided to listen to the testimonies of the accused and his witnesses to have a better appreciation of the contention of both parties.
The court ruled that the element of malversation was present because Beltran is a public officer and that the second and third elements were likewise fulfilled.
The decision claimed the fourth requirement was likewise duly proven and clearly, Beltran received the amount of P200 from a certain Bonnie Estioco as payment for business clearance as evidenced by an official receipt from the barangay but he remitted to the local government only the amount of P30 as gleanded from the summary of collections and deposits which he was required to transmit.
Despite the chance given to him to explain the discovered shortage of P170, the court noted that Beltran opted to waive his right to present evidence to explain the discrepancy, thus, he failed to satisfactorily explain why he received the amount of P200 from Estioco and yet, he remitted only P30 to the city.
The court asserted based on the disquisitions, law, jurisprudence and evidence, the prosecution has proven the guilt of Beltran beyond reasonable doubt for the crime of malversation of public funds punishable by imprisonment of prison correctional in its medium and maximum periods or two years, 4 months and one day to 6 years and that the medium period is 3 years, 6 months and 21 days to 4 years, 9 months and 10 days.
The decision cited applying the indeterminate sentence law, he shall serve imprisonment of 1 year and 1 day of prison correctional as minimum to 3 years and 7 months of prison correctional as maximum.
Further, Beltran was order to suffer the penalty of perpetual special disqualification and fine of P170 which is equal to the amount of the fund malversed in the said complaint.
The prosecution presented witnesses such as barangay kagawads and other private individuals who issued corroborating statements that resulted to the conviction of the barangay treasurer in the malversation of public funds filed against him before the court.
By HENT
