LA TRINIDAD, Benguet — The Benguet Regional Trial Court (RTC), Branch 62, sentenced a retired municipal treasurer in this capital town to a prison term of 12 to 18 years after she was found guilty of malversation of public funds amounting to a little over P6.9 million.

In a decision handed down recently, Judge Danilo Camacho ordered Natividad P. Paran, former municipal treasurer of La Trinidad, to pay the municipal government the amount of P6, 909,297 as reimbursement.

The malversation charges against Paran stemmed from the findings of a team of state auditors composed of Fernando Somera, Constancia Molintas, and Lilibeth Beljica who conduct an audit of the municipal governments of Kapangan, Atok, and La Trinidad from 1999 to 2002.

The team was formed by the Commission on Audit (CoA) to examine and audit the financial transactions of the three municipal governments, including collections and disbursements made for the said period.

The audit team discovered that Paran allegedly incurred a shortage in her accounts for the general fund and trust fund amounting to P6,883,382.50.

When the said shortage was discovered, the audit team sent a demand letter to the retired municipal treasurer to produce the amount. She was only able to produce P1,977,044.

The court found that Paran’s signatures were all over the documents that indicated the shortages and the corresponding amount.