Iba Judge jailed for extortion

Bribe-taking judge draws 3-year jail term

A judge of the Municipal Trial Court of Iba, Zambales was sentenced to three years in jail Tuesday for accepting P10,000 in exchange for a favorable ruling.

Judge Conrado Alinea Jr., insisting he was innocent, broke down in tears during his sentencing by the Sandiganbayan Third Division.

He was also ordered to pay a P20,000 fine by Associate Justice Alex Quiroz, who wrote the 18-page decision. The Sandiganbayan was convinced that Alinea was criminally inclined to extort money from the private complainants in a case pending before his sala, based on the chain of events presented in the bribery case.

There was no doubt he was guilty of direct bribery, the Third Division said in its decision with which Associate Justices Efren de la Cruz and Francisco Villaruz, the division chairman, concurred.

Agents of the National Bureau of Investigation in June 2004, acting on a complaint by Raul Neria and his uncle, Jose Abadam, who had a pending case for a writ of demolition before Alinea’s sala, caught the MTC judge receiving P10,000 from Abadam and Neria in Iba’s Bon’s Restaurant. by Macon Ramos-Araneta - manilastandardtoday.com