Double jeopardy saves ex-barangay official

The Sandiganbayan has absolved an ex-Manila barangay captain of graft charges on account of double jeopardy.

Emmanuel de Vela escaped criminal liability following the Sandiganbayan Sixth Division ruling, granting his plea filed in 2019 seeking the quashing of the indictment, which a Manila court earlier turned down.

 In May 2019, Manila Regional Trial Court Branch 21 handed down a maximum prison term of nine years for De Vela after it found him guilty of soliciting and receiving P70,000 from a supplier attempting to collect payment for unpaid deliveries.

 He was accused of taking advantage of his official function by allegedly demanding P70,000 from FRCGE Trading as an advance share or commission in exchange for a contract to provide Barangay 404, Zone 41, District IV, from the City of Manila with various supplies and materials.

 The same verdict also permanently banned De Vela from seeking public office. The erstwhile barangay chief sought the reversal of the Manila RTC's ruling, which had been denied.

 De Vela said the court erred in convicting him, as he was already acquitted by the Metropolitan Trial Court in 2018 over the same charges.

 The anti-graft court stated that while the RTC committed no reversible error in its May 2019 ruling, it can no longer convict De Vela pursuant to the Constitutional proscription against double jeopardy since the MeTC has already acquitted him.