If barangay-level corruption gets this kind of verdict, then there’s hope for us yet.
“In a 10-page decision, Manila Regional Trial Court Branch 42 Judge Dinnah Aguila-Topacio found Leo de Guzman and Violeta Arendela—former chairman and treasurer of Tondo’s Barangay 95, Zone 8, respectively—guilty beyond reasonable doubt of malversation of public funds and falsification by a public officer,” reports Michael Punongbayan in The Philippine Star.
The revealed that “the court found that in September 2001, De Guzman and Arendela malversed barangay funds worth PHP157,850.93.” Thus, each was sentenced to suffer the penalty of a maximum of eight years in jail for falsification and a maximum of 17 years in jail for malversation.
According to the report, “in order to secure the release of monetary privileges in the form of additional honoraria, wages and reimbursements, De Guzman and Arendela falsified a barangay resolution by cutting the signatory portion of a 2000 Sangguniang Barangay resolution and attaching it to a new resolution which was photocopied and filed after using correction fluid to erase certain entries such as the date and traveling expenses.” Thus, they made it appear that the resolution was unanimously passed.
