Froilan v. Honorable Sandiganbayan

YNARES-SANTIAGO, J.:

Once again, the issue of whether or not the constitutional right of an accused to be presumed innocent has been overcome so as to warrant a judgment of conviction confronts this Court. On a petition for certiorari , petitioner, Julius Froilan, has challenged the judgment of conviction of respondent court finding him as well as three (3) other co-accused guilty of the crime of violation of Section 3(g) of Republic Act No. 3019, otherwise known as the Anti-Graft and Corrupt practices Act, for being contrary to law and jurisprudence. The facts of the case as found by the Sandiganbayan and quoted both by petitioner and the Office of the Solicitor General in their respective pleadings filed before us are quoted verbatim, to wit: Needing chemicals for its laboratory, the Bohol Agricultural College, a government educational institution in Bilar, Bohol, purchased on June 13, 1984, chemicals priced at P10,633.00 from the JDS Traders, a business firm in Tagbilaran City.

As required in the procurement of government supplies, an RIV (Requisition and Issue Voucher) was prepared on May 30, 1984 by Benigno V. Mandin, Supply Officer, and approved by Mateo M. Limbago, Superintendent of the school (Exhibit A). It would appear that requests for price quotations were sent out to and filled out by three suppliers, namely: Farmacia Libertad, Tower View General Merchandise and JDS Traders, all of Tagbilaran City (Exhibits B, C and D). On the basis of the quotations submitted by these suppliers, an abstract of canvass (Exhibit E) was prepared by Supply Officer Benigno Mandin, and recommended for approval by a Committee on Award, composed of Sergio L. Salubre, Rutillo G. Real and Victorio S. Pabe.

The award was in favor of JDS Traders which supposedly submitted the lowest quotation of P10,633.00, broken down as follows: