MANILA – The Sandiganbayan has affirmed the ruling of the Quezon City Regional Trial Court (QC RTC) finding a police official guilty of malversation involving more than PHP7 million in Philippine National Police (PNP) funds, in 1992.

The anti-graft court, in a 31-page decision promulgated Sept. 5 and written by Associate Justice Georgina Hidalgo, affirmed the ruling of the QC RTC Branch 88 finding former Police Senior Insp. Mercita Eya guilty of malversation.

The lower court had sentenced Eya in two counts of malversation to a total of up to 29 years in prison and to pay fines.

Eya was relieved from her post as collecting officer and fund custodian of the 14th PNP Finance Center Unit in 1995, after an audit discovered missing funds that were part of amounts earmarked for the PNP Scholarship Fund and the PNP Trust Receipts.

The missing amounts were divided into two sums of PHP4.918 million and PHP2.341 million .

“A judicious review of the records of these cases and after a careful evaluation of the evidence presented by both the prosecution and accused-appellant during the trial of these cases as well as the arguments raised in this appeal, the Court finds no reason to disturb the findings of RTC Branch 88 as contained in its questioned joint decision,” the tribunal said. (PNA)