A former mayor of Capalonga, Camarines Norte, has been sentenced to up to 30 years in prison on corruption charges for allegedly embezzling P2.82 million in pork barrel funds intended for the procurement of medicine supplies for his constituents. 

In a 77-page decision dated 7 November, the Sandiganbayan found Senandro Jalgalado, also known as “Pretty Boy,” guilty of graft, malversation, and falsification of public documents. 

He was fined P5,000 and ordered to pay P1.80 million in civil liability to the government plus 6 percent interest per annum.

In June 2022, Jalgalado was charged with corruption after he failed to account for P2,819,994, despite repeated demands from the Commission on Audit, to the damage and prejudice of the government. 

The amount was a portion of the P14.5 million Priority Development Assistance Fund of ex-Camarines Norte lawmaker Renato Unico Jr., which was supposedly intended for the distribution of medicines for a medical mission in Capalonga town in 2012.

Court records showed that the former mayor forged letter requests and acknowledgement receipts to make it appear that 11 of 51 barangay chairpersons had requested and received medicines for the supposed beneficiaries, despite no distribution having occurred. 

Jalgalado denied doctoring the documents, claiming they were not in his custody. Furthermore, he argued that the Ombudsman merely accepted the barangay chairpersons’ denial without proper investigation. 

The Sandiganbayan, however, did not buy it, contending that the documents in question were submitted by no less than the municipality of Capalonga to Unico’s office.

As the sitting mayor, the anti-graft court was convinced that it was Jalgalado who prepared the documents and made the untruthful facts since he was not able to show proof to the contrary to rebut these conclusions, save his denial.

“Jalgalado failed to account for and produce the missing medicines, upon demand, without offering a satisfactory explanation for the said shortage. It, thus, created a prima facie presumption that the medicines, or the funds for that, were put to his personal use,” the decision reads. 

“Strikingly, the testimony of accused Jalgalado inherently consists of nothing but mere denials and sheer allegations…He equally failed to address the non-submission of the required documents, which would validate the prior distribution of medicines to other LGUs,” it added.