THE anti-graft court has ordered the arrest of former Cagayan de Oro councilor and Misamis Oriental board member President Elipe and his sister Pristine Quizon in connection with their 2018 conviction for graft and falsification.
The bench warrant of arrest came from the 4th Division of the Sandiganbayan and the order was signed by its chairman, Associate Justice Alex Quiroz.
Quiroz ordered Cagayan de Oro police director Col. Henry Dampal, Misamis Oriental police director Col. Robert Roy Bahian, Cebu City police director Col. Gemma Cruz Vinluan, Cebu provincial police director Col. Roderick Mariano, National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) Director Dante Gierran, National Police officer-in-charge Lt. Gen. Archie Francisco Gamboa, and the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) to bring the Elipe siblings to the Sandiganbayan “to be dealt with as the law and Rules of Court direct.”
The arrest warrant, signed Oct. 30, 2019, was issued in connection with the Elipe siblings’ cases docketed as SB-16-CRM-0925 and 0726.
In the graft case, the siblings were slapped with a six- to 10-year imprisonment sentence for violation of Section 3(e) of RA 3019. The penalty also carried with it a perpetual disqualification from holding public office.
In the falsification case, the Elipes were sentenced to be imprisoned from six to eight years for public document falsification. For this violation, they were ordered perpetually disqualified from holding public office and slapped with a P5-thousand fine each.
The July 6, 2018 promulgation was handed down by Associate Justice Reynaldo Cruz and concurred by Associate Justices Quiroz and Bayani Jacinto.
The Elipes were charged before the Sandiganbayan in September 2016 with conspiracy to take advantage of their official functions to allow the then councilor’s sister to collect her salary from Oct. 25 to Oct. 30, 2013, based on a falsified daily time record. President was a councilor at that time while his sister Quizon served as his secretary.
While Quizon’s daily time record showed that she reported for work, documents from the Bureau of Immigration showed she was abroad from Oct. 25 to Oct. 30, 2013.
The anti-graft court stated in its 2018 ruling that the conspiracy was “properly established” and that the then-councilor Elipe “aided” Quizon “to be paid and unduly receive her salary.” Interestingly, the amount involved was only a measly P1,894.08.
The Sandiganbayan associate justices rejected the Elipe siblings’ “flexi-time” defense and declared them guilty beyond reasonable doubt of violation of the anti-graft law and falsification of public documents.
The former councilor briefly served as a provincial board member shortly before the May elections — he was appointed by President Duterte to replace a dead member of Misamis Oriental’s legislature.
Mr. Elipe ran for vice governor in this year’s election but lost to the then-provincial board member Jeremy Jonahmar Pelaez. After losing in the vice gubernatorial race, he was reportedly reappointed by his brother-in-law, Gov. Yevgeny Vincente Emano, as general manager of the Misamis Oriental Integrated Sports Council (Moisc) which manages the Don Gregorio Pelaez Sports Complex.
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