The Sandiganbayan has sentenced a former head of the Office for Southern Cultural Communities (OSCC) and her deputy to 10 years in prison years for overpricing medicines distributed to ethnic communities in 1995. The Sandiganbayan Third Division said OSCC executive director Bae Trinidad T. Sibug and deputy executive director Joseph B. Banghulot padded by at least P1 million a P5 million purchase of branded medicines from private supplier Kinderpharm.  The case stemmed from a special audit by the Commission on Audit that found evidence of cost padding based on a comparison with the price lists of other pharmaceutical firms.

The COA report said the overpricing could go as high as P3.03 million based on the prices of available generic drugs.