By Marisol Bo-oc | 01:15 PM October 09, 2023
The Supreme Court (SC) affirmed the dismissal and perpetual disqualification from public office of former Corella Mayor and now councilor Vito Rapal of Bohol for failing to liquidate his cash advances and pocketing money intended for a tarsier preservation program amounting to P1.18 million.
In a 15-page decision promulgated in August 2023 but uploaded on the SC’s website on Sept. 28, 2023, the SC said Rapal was found guilty of graft, estafa and failure to render accounts.
Rapal was sentenced to six to 10 years in prison for each of the graft cases, two months to one year for estafa and six months to one year for failure to render accounts.
The court also ordered Rapal’s perpetual disqualification from holding public office and directed him to pay the municipal government P1.18 million, representing the amount of public funds involved in the cases.
The court said Rapal received P1.088 million in cash advances from 2004 to 2010 supposedly for confidential and intelligence purposes, official travel, miscellaneous and other expenses.
Investigation showed that Rapal failed to liquidate the cash advances beyond the allowable period prescribed by the Commission on Audit and despite repeated demands by the municipal government.
Rapal has yet to issue a statement.
