THE Sandiganbayan has affirmed the conviction of former Mamburao, Occidental Mindoro mayor Voltaire Anthony Villarosa on one count of violation of RA 8291 or the Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) Law for failure to remit P4.81 million in contributions and loan payments of municipal employees from September 20, 2015 to May 20, 2016.
In a 13-page resolution issued last September 25, the Sixth Division denied the defendant’s Motion for Partial Reconsideration in which he asked for the reversal of the anti-graft court’s June 25, 2024 decision that pronounced him guilty beyond reasonable doubt.
The accused, son of former Occidental Mindoro governor Jose Villarosa and the late Deputy House Speaker Ma. Amelita Villarosa, is facing a sentence of two to four years imprisonment and a P10,000 fine.
Associate Justice Karl B. Miranda penned the resolution, with Associate Justices Sarah Jane T. Fernandez and Kevin Narce B. Vivero concurring.
The cases were initiated by incumbent Mamburao mayor Angeline Tria, Villarosa’s successor, after she received several notifications and demand letters from the GSIS Batangas Branch to remit the compulsory premium contributions of municipal employees in the total amount of P4,808,283.63.
The Commission on Audit issued several Audit Observation Memoranda (AOMs) on the municipal government’s P133.31 million overdraft in 2015 and its non-remittance of mandatory deductions from government employees for their health and social benefits.
It was only in 2018 and 2019, during the term of Mayor Tria, that the unremitted GSIS contributions were finally paid.
In his MR, the defendant argued that the complaint was defective because Mayor Tria had no authority to file legal action with the Office of the Ombudsman on behalf of the local government employees.
He said the special power of attorney (SPA) issued by the municipal employees only authorized Tria to “confirm that the listed employees were prevented from claiming their GSIS benefits.”
He also said there was no evidence that there was a conscious intent on his part to violate the GSIS Law.
“Villarosa makes a mountain out of a molehill. Whether the SPA attached to the Complaint-Affidavit is for the purpose of filing a complaint before the Ombudsman is utterly irrelevant in the criminal case before this court,” the Sandiganbayan said.
It pointed out that Tria’s actions were prompted by the nine demand letters from the GSIS Batangas Branch when it notified the municipal government that deducted amounts from the salaries of LGU employees were not remitted.
On Villarosa’s claim of good faith and reliance on his subordinates to ensure the remittance of contributions, the court noted that the accused admitted during trial that he was aware of the GSIS delinquencies and two other witnesses testified that they informed the defendant of the demand letters from the GSIS.
“What is clear is Villarosa’ s predilection for passing the responsibility of remitting the subject GSIS contributions to his subordinates. This is precisely what is being prevented by the GSIS Law–the proclivity of the heads of offices of the national government, its political subdivisions, branches, agencies and instrumentalities, to relegate to their subordinates the responsibility that the law itself vested in them,” the Sandiganbayan added.
