BY PETER TABINGO

A BARANGAY chairman in Macabebe, Pampanga was saved from serving prison time for graft when his cabalen, President Arroyo, pardoned him.

The Sandiganbayan Fourth Division last April 2 convicted Edgar B. Flores, chairman of barangay Batasan, and sentenced him to six to 10 years imprisonment.

Flores learned about the pardon when he was brought to National Bilibid Prisons in Muntinlupa City last Wednesday to start serving time.

Rufina M. Cabiling, the complainant, alleged that Flores authorized the destruction of three bamboo clumps within her parents’ property with the use of bulldozers to make way for a public mini-park.

Flores’ brother, Macabebe Mayor Leonardo, his co-accused, was exonerated for lack of evidence.

Flores filed an appeal but it was denied by the court last August.

When Flores decided against going to the Supreme Court, the Sandiganbayan, in a commitment order last Sept. 17, turned him over to the Bureau of Corrections.

"It turned out, taking him to Bilibid was only a formality because when we got there, BuCor officials told us his pardon was already on the way. He will not even serve a day of his sentence," a court officer said.

In April 2007, President Arroyo wrote off the 203-year jail sentence of a certain Jaime Ponce de Leon for 27 counts of graft over ghost road construction projects in Negros Oriental.