Sandiganbayan dismisses charges vs deceased individuals linked to former lawmaker
The Sandiganbayan has dismissed the corruption charges against two alleged cohorts of former Agusan del Sur Rep. Rodolfo Plaza owing to their deaths.
The decision came after the Public Attorney's Office, the legal counsel of Alexis Sevidal and Romulo Revelo, furnished the anti-graft court the official notice of their deaths as compliance with its plea to dismiss the criminal charges against the two accused.
The death certificate issued by the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) showed that Sevidal and Relevo passed away on 27 December 2022 and 1 February 2024, respectively, but did not indicate the cause of their deaths.
The Sandiganbayan Second Division said the ruling was pursuant to Article 89, paragraph 1 of the Revised Penal Code, mandating that criminal liability be totally extinguished in the event of the accused's demise.
Sevidal and Relevo faced graft and malversation charges with Plaza, which arose from the alleged irregularities in handling the lawmaker's Priority Development Assistance Funds or pork barrel.
Plaza, facing five counts each of graft and malversation and two counts of direct bribery, was accused of funneling his PDAF to bogus non-government organizations owned by pork barrel mastermind Janet Lim Napoles, who was also charged alongside the lawmaker and two deceased.
Plaza allegedly received P42.1 million in commissions, rebates, and kickbacks from his PDAF allocations while serving in the House of Representatives from 2004 to 2010.
He was part of the second wave of lawmakers implicated in the PDAF scam, facing charges of embezzling public funds for "ghost projects" by funneling the budget through Napoles' fake foundations.
Sevidal of the now-defunct National Livelihood Development Corporation was also involved in the misuse of Senator Bong Revilla's pork barrel funds amounting to P517 million.
He was among those meted out a lifetime ban in the public service by the Ombudsman in 2017.
Romulo of the former National Agribusiness Corporation, on the other hand, was charged in numerous PDAF cases, including the misuse of ex-lawmaker Vicente Belmonte Jr.'s P4.85 million pork barrel, ex-Iloilo Rep. Niel Tupas Jr.'s P4.85 million pork barrel, and ex-Eastern Samar solon Teodulo Coquilla's P4.85 million PDAF.
The NLDC and NABCOR were among the government-owned or controlled corporations abolished by the late former President Benigno Aquino III after being implicated as conduits of bogus PDAF.
