MANILA – The Sandiganbayan has convicted a lawyer of the Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG) for receiving double compensation 19 years ago in violation of the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act.

The anti-graft court sentenced Virgilio Ocaya to up to eight years imprisonment and directed him to return to the PCGG PHP129,600, which he received as double compensation from January to June 2003.

Ocaya worked for the PCGG while concurrently serving as Deputy Administrator for Administration and Legal Affairs of the Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System Regulatory Office (MWSS-RO) from September 2002 to June 30, 2003.

Ocaya received PHP278,388 per annum from the MWSS and as PCGG legal counsel on a full-time basis from 2002 to 2003, had a monthly remuneration of PHP24,000.

“(T)he Constitution and law prohibit dual employment and double compensation. Hence, in view of the such prohibition, the compensation the accused received from the PCGG was unauthorized or without justification,” the decision dated March 18 read.

The accused countered that he accepted employment with the PCGG, “believing in good faith, that his position in the MWSS-RO was not a public office and that he did not receive public funds”.

The court noted that at the time that Ocaya sought PCGG employment, he was not receiving salary and other benefits from the MWSS-RO and needed a source of income to cover his family’s needs and his wife’s medical bills.

“However, when he was reinstated as Deputy Administrator for Administration and Legal Affairs in January 2003, his source of income was restored, and he should not have accepted additional employment with the PCGG,” the court said. (PNA)