FORMER Compostela mayor Gilbert Wagas who convicted of malversation of public funds has been transferred to the National Penitentiary in Muntinlupa Friday.

From his detention cell in Sandiganbayan, Wagas who was not handcuffed and wearing a white shirt and jeans with a cell phone on hand was accompanied by sheriffs headed by Sandiganbayan Security and Sheriffs Chief Edgardo Urieta straight to the Medium Security Prison around 3 p.m.

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As soon as the order was filed around 1 p.m., travel permissions were immediately processed.

“We just had to fix travel permits and travel tickets to bring him to the Bureau of Corrections,” Urieta said.

Wagas was arrested last Wednesday by the National Bureau of Investigation-Cebu Wednesday by virtue of the bench warrant issued on July 2, 2003 following his conviction on October 8, 2001. He was then transported to Manila.

He took the 11 a.m. flight from Cebu to Manila Thursday and was brought to Sandiganbayan the same day. He was detained there.

Another car, aside from the one that the mayor rode in, escorted Wagas’s transfer to Muntinlupa.

Sheriff Chito Miranda said two cars used for transporting a detainee is not usual.

A hearing regarding the arrest has been set on November 10, according to Wagas’s camp.

Wagas was sentenced with life imprisonment by the Sandiganbayan due to malversation of P376,618.85 worth of public funds. He was charged with then Compostela municipal treasurer Dominador Maravillas Jr., who is now also in jail.

Maravillas has said the check for the cash advance did not go through him.

Wagas, for his part, said in court that such the funds were sourced from the Human Resource Development Intelligence Fund under the Municipal Council Profession Ordinance.

The court, fronted by Presiding Judge Francis E. Garchitorena, said that both parties failed to present evidences proving such and ruled that Maravillas did not just consent to the cash advance but also conspired with Wagas.

They were charged with a life sentence and ordered to pay the amount equivalent to the amount in question.

Court records show that Wagas and Maravillas filed separate requests in the Supreme Court to provide 15 days of preparation to file motions of reconsideration. The court granted them 30 days instead of 15, but both failed to file any motion of reconsideration.

Because of this, the case has been deemed "closed and terminated" making the arrest and the charges final.

On July 18, 2003, the bench warrant issued on July 2, 2003 was returned to the office since Wagas "could not be found at his last known address and that according to wife Lucy Wagas, he was presently in Metro Manila to file a motion for reconsideration regarding the case.”

Wagas insisted Thursday than an omnibus motion and another motion was still unresolved in the Supreme Court.

“They are attacking us based on technicalities. Justice should be substantial and not technical,” Wagas said in an interview with Sun.Star Thursday.

The malversation case was filed following a report from the State Auditor of the Commission on Audit regarding disparity in the cash disbursements in the municipality of Compostela, Cebu with State Auditor IV Josephine Daclan as lone witness. (Angela Casauay/Sunnex)