Misuari pleads guilty on graft raps

The Sandiganbayan has convicted Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) founding chairperson Nur Misuari after he pleaded guilty to two counts of graft over the procurement of P77 million worth of textbooks, which turned out to be ghost or non-existent.

The ruling, handed down by the anti-graft court Third Division on Friday, sentenced Misuari to up to 16 years in prison in addition to perpetual disqualification from holding public office.

The same charges were also brought against Misuari’s co-accused, Leovigilda Cinches, Pangalian Maniri, Sittie Aisa Usman, Alladin Usi, Nader Macagaan and Cristeta Ramirez.

However, the Sandiganbayan has cleared Misuari of two counts of malversation of public funds.

To recall, the Office of the Ombudsman in 2017 indicted Misuari and his cohorts before the Sandiganbayan for procuring P115.2 million in textbooks in 2000 and 2001 during his stint as governor of the now defunct Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM).

However, the amount involved later shrunk to P77 million following the Sandiganbayan amendments to the case.

An investigation by the Ombudsman found that none of the supposed educational materials was ever delivered, adding that Misuari had conspired with former regional officials of the Department of Education to falsify the corresponding procurement documents to make it appear that the transactions were aboveboard.

Misuari has previously denied his involvement in the dubious transaction and claimed he was no longer the ARMM governor when the transactions were made.