Former ISCOF president convicted by Sandiganbayan
The anti-graft court Sandiganbayan has convicted and sent to jail a former president of a state university in Iloilo for appointing his sons as student laborers and approving the payment of their salaries without actual labor, a report of the Philippine News Agency said.
In a 37-page decision, the 5th Division of the Sandiganbayan said it found Dr. Elpidio Locsin Jr., president of the Iloilo State College of Fisheries (ISCOF) in Barotac Nuevo, Iloilo, guilty beyond reasonable doubt of four counts of violation of Section 3(e) of Republic Act No. 3019, otherwise known as the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act.
In its decision, the Sandiganbayan gave weight to the evidence presented by the prosecution, the PNA reported.
“Being the president, to include one’s children in a program offered by the school itself supposedly for the poor is just plain unacceptable. In these cases, the accused included not just one, but three of his children in the Student Labor Program of ISCOF. The three slots could and should have been availed of by students more in need of the salaries to be derived therefrom,” the anti-graft court said.
The Sandiganbayan said that by approving the appointment of his children and approving their salaries as student laborers, Locsin gave them unwarranted benefit and preference over other deserving students.
It said that the salaries granted to his children caused undue injury to the government.
Locsin was sentenced to imprisonment of from six years and one month to 10 years, suffer perpetual disqualification from public office for each count, and to return the salaries paid to his children, the PNA report said.
Records of the case showed that Locsin was president of ISCOF from 1993 to 2005.
The school offers a Student Labor Program to help students and reduce the expenses of the school.
Three of Locsin’s children applied for the program, namely, Neil Arvin, Gelner Keats and Elpidio III. They were assigned in the office of the college president and the Integrated Fish Farm on various dates.
The prosecution team led by Deputy Special Prosecutor John Turalba accused Locsin of accommodating his children to the program, even though they did not meet the qualifications.
Under Republic Act No. 7323, otherwise known as the Special Program for Employment of Students, only students with parents earning below P36,000 annually can avail of the program.
The program aims to assist students who are deserving, poor and not capable in going to school to have additional income, appreciate labor, and as training for them.
The prosecution also charged Locsin of having caused the payment of his children’s salaries without actually rendering labor service.
They presented witnesses who claimed that Gelner Keats was enrolled at the Western Visayas College of Science and Technology which is an hour and 30 minutes ride back and forth from the school.
They said that the other children were seen playing basketball and riding bicycle around the campus at the time that they were supposed to be working.
In his defense, Locsin argued that his children availed of the school’s Regular Student Labor Services in the College and not the SPES under R.A. 7323.
He said that the regular program has no joint salary requirement.
Locsin maintained that his children worked contrary to the claim of the prosecution.
However, Prosecutors Louela Pesquera and Rohermina Rodriguez presented evidence that the College Order availed of by his children was approved by the school board only on Nov. 23, 2000, and so it was not applicable to the children of the accused who worked as student laborers in 1997 and 1998.*
