Mayor Teresa P. Alegado
With no basis for establishing her guilt beyond reasonable doubt, the Sandiganbayan’s 5th Division cleared Consolacion Mayor Teresa Alegado on charges of unlawful appointment.
“For failure of the prosecution to prove the guilt of (Mayor) Teresa P. Alegado beyond reasonable doubt, she is acquitted of the crime of unlawful appointment punishable under Article 244 of the Revised Penal Code,” Associate Justice Ma. Theresa Dolores Gomez-Estoesta stated in her order.
The charge stemmed from a complaint filed by a certain Arlene Panoncillo at the Ombudsman against Mayor Alegado in late 2012 in relation to the appointment of Engineer Danilo Capangpangan as Consolacion’s general services officer the year before.
Capangpangan received the post even if he had no degree in public administration, a requirement for the post.
The Ombudsman elevated the complaint to the Sandiganbayan.
But the mayor’s lawyer Christian Bacus said Alegado did not push through with Capangpangan’s appointment after the Civil Service Commission (CSC) ruled on his lack of qualification.
The anti-graft court also ordered the lifting of the hold departure order against Alegado issued last March 21, 2016.
Alegado said she is thankful that justice prevailed on her case.
She said the complaint was only made up by her political rivals.
Alegado said she will have to wait on the Sandiganbayan’s order as well as the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) before reassuming her post.
“Technically, we have been arguing all along that the preventive suspension was already not necessary since the prosecutor decided to implement the suspension order on the last stage of the trial,” Bacus said.
Alegado was under preventive suspension for 90 days, and the order was served by the DILG’s provincial office last June 9.
In her absence, Councilor Joannes Alegado, the mayor’s son, assumed as acting mayor in place of Vice Mayor Aurelio Damelo, who was in abroad at the time of the suspension.
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