DAVAO CITY — The former town mayor of Caraga in Davao Oriental surrendered to the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) on March 13, following the warrant of arrest issued by the Sandiganbayan who convicted him for graft and sentenced the former mayor for 10 years in jail.
Atty. Archie Albao, director of the NBI XI in an interview with Newsline identified the former mayor as William Dumaan “Voluntarily surrendered to our office last Wednesday and he is now in our facility while we are waiting for transfer to NBI and then he will be presented to the Sandiganbayan, it will be the Sandiganbayan which will determine which facility he will be committed for him to serve his sentence.”
The NBI noted that the warrant of arrest against Dumaan was dated January 22, 2024 which was handed down by Judge Sara Jane Fernandez of the 6th Division of the Sandiganbayan.
Dumaan was accompanied by a family member during his surrender, Albao revealed.
Aside from Dumaan, the NBI has received on Monday another warrant of arrest for the treasurer of the town while Dumaan was the mayor. But reports reaching Newsline revealed that the treasurer has died several years ago.
“We expect more respondents to come over to surrender or we will find them,” Albao told Newsline.
On November 15, 2019, the Sandiganbayan sentenced Duma-an to up to 10 years in prison over the unlawful receipt of a P2-million from Roseller Macayra, chief executive officer of RR Summit Consultants inc., between July to September in 2010.
The anti-graft court said prosecutors presented sufficient evidence to prove Duma-an’s guilt for violating Section 3 (b) of Republic Act 3019 or the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act.
The anti-graft law prohibits public officials from directly or indirectly requesting or receiving gifts or benefits from any party in connection with a pending contract or transaction with the government in which they have the official capacity to intervene.
During the proceedings, the Sandiganbayan said Dumaan did not appear to testify but the documents obtained by the court were sufficient to pin down the former mayor.
Duma-an was also perpetually disqualified from holding public office.
