Sandigan overturns graft verdict of Butuan City barangay official

AN honest mistake by a public official, absent any evidence of malice, does not amount to a crime.

With this pronouncement, the Sandiganbayan First Division reversed the January 2023 decision of the Butuan City Regional Trial Court that convicted accused Adela Butcon of graft for allowing a displaced family to erect a temporary shelter in a vacant lot that the city government has already awarded to different owners.

In its 18-page decision promulgated last June 14, the anti-graft court also set aside the defendant’s sentence of six-year imprisonment with perpetual disqualification from holding public office.

“The appeal is meritorious. Her act of allowing spouses (Carlos and Marissa) Alas to be relocated was not motivated by bad judgment nor of palpably and patently fraudulent and dishonest purpose… nor a conscious wrongdoing for some perverse motive or ill will,” the Sandiganbayan said.

Trial records showed that the Department of Public Works and Highways started a clearing of shanties along the Agusan River in 2018 as part of the Riverbank Protection Project to address seasonal flooding in the area.

The Alas spouses, together with seven other displaced families, sought help from Barangay Dankias. They were allowed to erect temporary shelters on vacant lots as the barangay council passed a resolution appealing to the city government to prioritize the relocation of the families affected by the DPWH project.

On the other hand, spouses Harold and Ginalyn Otaza demanded that the Alas couple vacate the lot since it was earlier awarded to them by the Butuan City government.

After failing to amicably settle the issue, Ginalyn Otaza filed a case before the local court charging Butcon with graft for causing her and her husband undue injury and alleging that the accused favored the Alases because Marissa was a relative of the barangay chairperson’s husband.

The Sandiganbayan held that Butcon’s decision to allow displaced families to build temporary shelters did not amount to a criminal offense as she was only implementing the resolution of the Barangay Council.

It added that the defendant’s supposed relations to one of the displaced has no bearing to the case as it was