INSTEAD of serving jail time of four months to two years after pleading guilty to the lesser offense of falsification, former Davao del Sur Gov. Marc Douglas C. Cagas IV has been allowed to serve his sentence on probation.
In a resolution issued yesterday, the Sandiganbayan Third Division granted the defendant’s motion asking leave of court to apply for probation at the Parole and Probation Office of Digos City.
The anti-graft court had earlier pronounced the former governor guilty of four counts of frauds against public treasury, three counts of failure of accountable officer to render accounts, and one count of falsification in accordance to the plea-bargaining agreement he struck with the Office of the Ombudsman.
Cagas was originally charged with four counts of graft and four counts of malversation of public funds in connection with alleged unlawful transactions involving P12.95 million from his Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) allocations as a congressman of the First District of Davao del Sur in 2007 and 2008.
Based on the first batch of criminal charges filed in 2016, Cagas was accused of funneling P11 million from his PDAF into bogus non-government organizations identified as the People’s Organization for Progress and Development Foundation Inc. (POPDFI) and the Social Development Program for Farmers Foundation Inc. (SDPFFI) — both linked to co-accused Janet Napoles.
In the second batch of cases filed in 2017, Cagas was accused of unlawful transfer of P6 million from his PDAF into the Farmerbusiness Development Corp.
Graft investigators from the Office of the Ombudsman said the supposed projects for Davao del Sur farmers turned out to be non-existent.
Other than Cagas and Napoles, also charged were officials of the NGOs and executives of the Technology Resource Center (TRC) and National Agribusiness Corp. (Nabcor)
