The Sandiganbayan has sentenced a National Food Authority (NFA) cashier to 10 years imprisonment and ordered her to pay P10 million in fines for losing over P10 million of public funds to robbers.
In a 19-page decision dated March 1, the anti-graft court convicted Maria Theresa Gutierrez, Cashier III of NFA-North District Office , of malversation of public funds under Article 217 of the Revised Penal Code.
"She stipulated that as Cashier III and by the nature of her official functions, she is considered an accountable officer," the Sandiganbayan said. Specifically, Gutierrez placed the collection or cash payments the NFA-NDO received on May 30, 2008 amounting to P9,390,834.00 inside peerless boxes. The anti-graft court also ruled that Gutierrez failed to explain why she did not keep the Friday collections inside the vault but instead chose to do so in less-secured boxes.
She also said that because of the sudden substantial increase in her daily collection, she resorted to storing them in peerless boxes that were kept inside a locked cabinet in the Cashier's Office located at the far end of the office building where only few personnel had access. The anti-graft court said Gutierrez should have pursued from her supervisors or the management the putting up of appropriate safety measures to address the sudden increase in collections, rather than deciding for herself to keep them in carton boxes inside a cabinet in her office.