The Sandiganbayan has acquitted former Quezon City mayor Herbert “Bistek” Bautista of graft charges arising from the ₱25.3 million solar power and waterproofing contract for a city building in 2019.
In contrast, former city administrator Aldrin C. Cuña was convicted of the same charge and sentenced to six to eight years in prison.
While no civil liability was imposed, Cuña was perpetually disqualified from holding public office and ordered to forfeit all retirement benefits.
The ruling, contained in an 88-page decision dated December 12, was signed by Associate Justices Ronald B. Moreno, Karl B. Miranda, and Edgardo M. Caldona.
Bautista and Cuña were accused of making the full payment of P25,342,359.25 to Cygnet Energy and Power Asia Inc. for the supply and installation of Solar Power System and Waterproofing Works for the city’s Civic Center Building.
The prosecution said that Cygnet was not entitled to the full payment for failure of the firm to get from the Manila Electric Company a Net Metering System, which was a requirement of the Supply and Delivery Agreement.
The anti-graft court found the evidence deficient.
It said: “From the evidence gathered, the court finds that the prosecution failed to prove the specific act of each of the accused in the alleged conspiracy to defraud the government. Mere allegation of conspiracy among the accused is not sufficient.”
In the case of Cuña, he was found guilty because he signed the acknowledgment receipts for equipment and initialed the disbursement voucher even if there was an apparent lack of net metering permit.
“His (Cuña’s) gross inexcusable negligence allowed Cygnet to be paid the full contract price despite its failure to secure the net metering permit,” the court stressed as it pointed out that Bautista was not similarly situated.
Earlier, both Bautista and Cuña had been found guilty by the court’s seventh division of graft due to the payment made to Geodata Solutions, Inc. of P32,107,912.5 for the procurement of an online occupational permitting and tracking system.
They were sentenced to six to 10 years imprisonment with perpetual disqualification from holding public office.
The prosecution established that no appropriate ordinance was given by the Sangguniang Lungsod for the project, nor was complete delivery of the products made. (Czarina Ong Ki)
