Antigraft court junks plea on P10-M pork barrel case
The Sandiganbayan has rejected the appeal made by a former staff of the late Negros Oriental Rep. Herminio Teves to overturn her conviction over the irregular transfer of P10 million from the lawmaker’s pork barrel funds to a nongovernmental organization for agricultural projects.
In a resolution on Feb. 11, the antigraft court’s Third Division denied for “lack of merit” the motion for reconsideration filed by Hiram Pulido, a former chief of staff of Teves, who was convicted of graft and malversation in 2023.
Pulido was found guilty of conspiring and allowing Teves’ Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) in 2007 to be misappropriated by Molugan Foundation Inc. (MFI), which was identified as the project partner of what turned out to be a ghost project.
In her pleading filed in October last year, Pulido asserted that she “has no knowledge of or dealings with [MFI] or any person connected therewith and is unfamiliar with her co-accused.”
She also denied having seen the project proposal and stressed that her signatures above the name of Teves in documents were “fake and forged” as she was no longer working for the lawmaker at the time.
Regarding her late filing of her motion, Pulido blamed her previous lawyer who she said became “negligent” on her case and eventually “abandoned” her.
But the antigraft court ruled that Pulido was “bound by the failure of [her lawyer] to timely file the necessary pleading.”
It added, “This court finds that Pulido is also guilty of contributory negligence for losing her right to appeal. She did not exercise due diligence in monitoring the status of her cases.”
The court said it was also “not persuaded” by the former chief of staff’s argument that she was unable to personally follow up her cases at the Sandiganbayan because “she could have simply resorted to other means of communication.”
Pulido, along with Belina Concepcion, Dennis Cunanan and Marivic Jover of defunct Technology Resource Center; and Samuel Bombeo of MFI, were found liable for violating Sec. 3(e) of Republic Act No. 3019, or the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act, as well as malversation under the Revised Penal Code
