The Sandiganbayan convicted a former regional director of the Department of Education,

Culture and Sports (DECS) along with three others for the overpriced purchase of construction materials for 17 schools worth P5 million including payment of labor that left the schools unfinished.

In a 39-page decision, the Sandiganbayan Fourth Division placed Venancio Nava, then director of DECS Region 9, behind bars for no less than 18 years after the anti-graft court found sufficient evidence that there was price padding in the construction materials purchased for schools in 1991.

DECS is presently the Department of Education.

Nava was convicted for three counts of graft, while former DECS Region 9 administrative officer Aquilina Granada will suffer a nine-year jail penalty.

Basing a major portion of the decision on the testimony of auditors of the Commission on Audit, the anti-graft court ruled that Nava and Granada conspired to overprice “by 103 percent” the construction materials of 17 schools when those were not actually constructed.

The Office of the Ombudsman charged them for increasing the amount of materials and labor to an aggregate amount of P7.2 million. The materials were found undelivered, the labor not rendered and buildings non-existent.

Prosecutors were able to establish that Nava entered into a contract with supplier Giomiche without public bidding, which the court noted as irregular.

“Without a competitive bidding, the costing or pricing of the materials was unregulated, left in the hands of the unscrupulous, thereby making the same susceptible to manipulation,” the ponencia of Associate Justice Ma. Cristina Cornejo read.

Araceli Geli, resident auditor of the DECS division of city schools in Davao City, revealed that majority of the supplies were “highly excessive,” ranging between 9 and 695 percent compared to market price.

“Overpricing cannot be discounted, as it did, in fact, occur in this case,” the ruling added.

On the conspiracy allegation, it was shown that Nava and Granada already signed the inspection report even before Napoleon Ramos, supply officer of DECS Region 11, had signed it, considering that as a supply officer, Ramos should have signed it first.

The Sandiganbayan magistrates ruled that the two showed “badge of conspiracy” in injuring the government as their acts “were concerted and cooperative.”

Apart from jail term, the court asked Nava and Granada to return P2.8 million as civil indemnity.

Six defendants, namely, Jose Burdeos, Antonio Caneza, Pablito Dimaligalig, Raul Retiza, Rodel Valguna and Jesusa de la Cruz remain at-large.

Associate Justices Gregory Ong and Jose Hernandez concurred in the decision promulgated on Monday.