MANILA – The Supreme Court has upheld the guilty verdict on the former municipal budget officer of La Paz, Leyte who was found guilty of having falsified a plane ticket issued to another person.
In a resolution dated March 3 and released online recently, the SC's Special First Division affirmed the Court of Appeals (CA) ruling upholding a trial court decision sentencing Emerito D. Terado to up to two years in prison and a fine of PHP5,000 and ordering him to pay the cost of the suit.
The SC upheld the guilty verdict for violation of Republic Act 3019 or the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act and falsification of private documents.
The SC ruling upheld rulings by the CA and the Abuyog, Leyte Regional Trial Court that found Terado guilty in 2012 of falsifying a Cebu Pacific plane ticket worth PHP4,000 and issued in the name of another person, Editha Labanta, for a round trip between Tacloban City and Manila to make it appear that the said ticket was issued to him (Terado) instead of Labanta for his travel from Tacloban to Manila in April 1998.
As it turned out, Terado did not take the flight and instead traveled by land.
Terado has denied falsifying the plane ticket and said the charge was fabricated by the complainant municipal health officer Dr. Sarah Balis because she was angry at him for disapproving her subsistence allowance.
Commission on Audit (COA) findings on the accused's travel expenses revealed that the plane ticket contained erasures and, upon verification with the local airline representative, had been issued to another person.
The findings also indicated that Terado was not listed as a passenger in Cebu Pacific's flight manifests for the said dates in April 1998. (PNA)
