Sandiganbayan (File photo)
MANILA – For bribing a policeman in exchange for the dropping of cases against two suspects in a frustrated murder case, a deputy City Prosecutor and a lawyer will spend the next six to 10 years behind bars.
In a decision promulgated on July 29 and recently made available online, Sandiganbayan's Sixth Division found Zamboanga City Deputy City Prosecutor Roselyn Murillo-Mamon and defense counsel Pherhram Surian Saiddi guilty of violating Republic Act 3019, otherwise known as the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act.
Mamon is also perpetually disqualified from public office.
The charges arose after the two offered PHP200,000 to Police Officer 3 Flavio Enriquez Jr. in 2013 in exchange for the dropping of frustrated murder cases against Phon Mohammad and Dadoh Mansul filed before the Zamboanga City Regional Trial Court Branch 14.
An entrapment operation by the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI)-Western Mindanao Regional Office, headed by lawyer Peter Chan Lugay on Aug. 16, 2013, subsequently led to Mamon and Saiddi's arrest.
Saiddi, Enriquez said, directly handed him the brown envelope containing the money.
In their defense, the two claimed they offered Enriquez "blood money" for the settlement of the case.
“Jurisprudence is consistent in teaching us that in proving conspiracy, proof of agreement between accused is completely irrelevant. For conspiracy to exist, the evidence need not establish the actual agreement which shows the preconceived plan, motive, interest or purpose in committing the crime,” the ruling read.
The court also said an amicable settlement of the case should have been raised in a proper venue considering that the case is still pending in court."
The frustrated murder charge was filed by Enriquez, then connected with the regional police office intelligence unit, after he was shot by Margani Samla while he was part of a team serving an arrest warrant on the latter.
Samla, Mohammad, Mansul, and six others were all facing frustrated murder charges being handled by Mamon.
At that time, Samla was one of Zamboanga's most wanted criminal, charged with illegal possession of firearms and was implicated in the death of a local judge.
In 2014, Mohammad was arrested by the NBI along with four others in a safehouse in Las Piñas City. (PNA)
