By JEN BAYLON

The Sandiganbayan has issued an arrest warrant against former Valladolid Mayor Romel Patalita Yogore, who has been convicted of graft.

Negros Occidental Police Provincial Office director Police Colonel Rainerio de Chavez said, despite their efforts to serve the warrant, they were unable to locate Yogore at his residence at Barangay Poblacion in Negros Occidental’s Valladolid town.

The municipal police also tried to serve the arrest warrant, but the former mayor was no longer there.

De Chavez said the warrant has since been returned to the Sandiganbayan, indicating that Yogore remains at large.

Local law enforcement officials have vowed to intensify their search for his arrest.

“We will still arrest him at any time once we spot him here,” De Chavez said.

The arrest warrant was issued by Associate Justice Zaldy Trespeces of the Sandiganbayan Seventh Division on December 13, 2024.

Yogore was found guilty of violating the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act due to irregularities in a municipal procurement process.

The case stems from a transaction in 2008, where the Valladolid municipal government purchased construction materials valued at P230,395 from JB Nieve Hardware and Construction Supplies, a business owned by Yogore’s brother-in-law, Jonie Nieve.

The materials were for the rehabilitation of a rural health unit.

“Nieve was related to him within the second degree of affinity should have put Yogore on guard. Instead, and despite this, accused Yogore proceeded to award the contract to accused Nieve,” the court decision said.

This procurement was conducted without the required public bidding, leading to the graft charges against Yogore.

“To disregard the lawful procurement process is indicative not only of manifest partiality, but also gross ignorance of the law,” it added.

In 2010, Larry Concepcion, a local radio personality in Valladolid, filed the complaint against Yogore and eight others.

Of the co-accused, seven were acquitted.

Among the accused, former local bids and awards committee Vice Chairman Alfonso Manayon pleaded guilty to a lesser offense, and was fined P5,000.

In 2019, Yogore was sentenced to a prison term ranging from six years and one month to eight years, along with a lifetime ban from holding public office.

His appeal to the Supreme Court was denied on March 3, 2022, and the court’s ruling became final on March 29, 2024./JB, WDJ