Manila, July 14 -- The Sandiganbayan has sentenced a former social worker to up to 24 years in prison for malversation and graft charges involving funds meant for emergency subsidies for more than 9,000 beneficiaries of the government's Social Amelioration Program (SAP).

In a 56-page decision dated July 13 and written by Presiding Justice Geraldine Faith Econg, the anti-graft court affirmed the Manila Regional Trial Court's ruling that convicted Victoria Marites Cobico, a former special disbursing officer stationed at the Rehabilitation Sheltered Workshop of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), for misappropriating over PHP4 million in public funds in 2021.

Cobico was sentenced to a maximum penalty of up to 16 years...