Rodrigo v.

Sandiganbayan, 309 SCRA 661 FACTS: The Municipality of San Nicolas, represented by Mayor Conrado Rodrigo, entered into an agreement with Philwood Construction, represented by Larry Lu, for the electrification of Barangay Caboloan, San Nicolas, for the sum of P486,386.18. On September 2, 1992, Reynaldo Mejica, the Planning and Development Coordinator of San Nicolas, prepared an Accomplishment Report stating that the Caboloan Power Generation project was 97.5% accomplished. Said report was supposedly approved by Mayor Rodrigo and confirmed by Larry Lu. On the basis of said report, payment of P452, 825.53 was effected by the Municipal Treasurer, petitioner Alejandro Facundo, to Philwood Construction. On 14 August 1993, petitioners received a Notice of Disallowance dated 21 June 1993 from the Provincial Auditor of Pangasinan, Atty. Agustin Chan, Jr., who found that as per COA (Commission on Audit) evaluation of the electrification project, only 60.0171% of the project (equivalent to P291,915.07) was actually accomplished. The Ombudsman approved the filing of an information against Rodrigo et. al. for v i o l a t i o n o f A n t i G r a f t L a w b e f o r e t h e S a n d i g a n b a y a n . Petitioners question the jurisdiction of the Sandiganbayan. They contend that Mayor Rodrigo occupies a position of Grade 24 and is, therefore, beyond the original and exclusive jurisdiction of the Sandiganbayan. ISSUE: Whether the Sandiganbayan has jurisdiction over Rodrigo et. al. HELD: Yes. Although RA 7975 limits the jurisdiction of the Sandiganbayan to those government officials having Salary Grade 27 or higher, municipal mayors were re-classified from Salary Grade24 to Salary Grade 27 by virtue of RA 6758 which took effect on July 1, 1989. Rodrigo however, claim that at the time of the commission of the alleged crime on or about 2 September 1992, Mayor Rodrigo, the highest public ranking public official impleaded in this case, was receiving a monthly salary of P10,441.00. Such amount 6758 is supposedly equivalent to a fourth step increment in Grade 24 under the Salary Schedule prescribed in Section 7 of R.A. No. 6758. Congress adopted the scheme employed in P.D. No. 985 for classifying positions with comparable responsibilities and qualifications for the pu rpose of according such positions similar salaries. This scheme is known as the "Grade," defined in P.D. No. 985 as including all classes of positions which, although different with respect to kind or subject matter of work, are sufficiently equivalent as to level of

difficulty and responsibilities and level of qualification requirements of the work to wa rrant the inclus ion of such classes of positions within one range of basic compensation. Rodrigos position having been classified as Grade 27 in accordance with R.A. No. 6758, and having been charged with violation of Section 3 (e) of R.A. 3019, is subject to the jurisdiction of the Sandiganbayan.