MANILA, Philippines – Pretending to be dead for more than five years has prompted the anti-graft court to deny the bail petition of Mary Ann Maslog, an accused in a textbook scam case.

Sandiganbayan Presiding Justice Geraldine Faith Econg and Associate Justices Edgardo M. Caldona and Arthur O. Malabaguio have denied bail for Maslog after she was found to have faked her death for over five years. 

In a 2nd Division decision, the court said that the history of the accused in evading arrest, faking her death, and assuming false identities were more than enough to dissuade the court to grant her motion.  

“While the right to bail is constitutionally guaranteed, …it is not absolute. Granting bail under these circumstances would erode public confidence in the judicial system,” the court said. 

Maslog was a defendant in a 2008 graft case over an anomalous P24 million textbook procurement deal involving officials of the former Department of Education, Culture, and Sports (DECS, now Department of Education) Regional Office 8.

On November 27, 2019, Maslog’s counsel told the court that she had passed away on November 18, 2019. The court ordered the submission of a Death Certificate from the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA).

Nearly a year later or on October 16, 2020, the Sandiganbayan convicted Maslog’s co-defendants — former DECS Region 8 chief accountant Emilia Aranas and budget and finance officer Ernesto Guiang — of one count of violation of the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act or Republic Act 3019. They were sentenced to six to ten years in prison with perpetual disqualification from holding public office.

The accused were found guilty of illegally approving the payment of P24 million to supplier Esteem Enterprises, represented by Maslog, for the delivery of textbooks and supplementary printed materials based on falsified documents. 

Prosecutors said there was no valid procurement contract for the transaction. The supposed sub-allotment release orders (SAROs) for P10 million and P14 million from the Department of Budget and Management were found to have been fabricated. 

Last September 25, 2024 the National Bureau of Investigation–Fraud and Financial Crimes Division (NBI-FFCD) arrested a certain Dr. Jessica Francisco in Quezon City for fraud. The suspect turned out to be Maslog. 

Maslog was also alleged to have scammed two investors in 2021 of P8 million in cash. She had told them that the money would be used to start a water supply system in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM). Maslog issued bank checks to her victims which later turned out as fake. 

Biometric printouts of Dr. Francisco’s right index finger led investigators to the records of wanted person Mary Ann Evanz Basa Tupa Smith, Mary Ann Evans Smith, Mary Ann Tupa Maslog-Smith, Mary Ann Evanz Basa Tupa, and Mary Ann Tupa Maslog. The last name led probers to check Dr. Francisco’s connection to Maslog’s graft case in the Sandiganbayan. 

Maslog was found to have convinced her own child to report her as dead to mislead authorities and enable her to live under assumed identities.

“The accused-movant’s deliberate and repeated violations of her bail obligations, combined with her pattern of evasion, disqualify her from availing of the privilege of bail. Her actions necessitate the continued enforcement of the Bench Warrant to ensure her presence during trial,” the Sandiganbayan said. – Rappler.com