Another former town mayor indicted for graft
GICA
ONE case involving two mayors stemmed from buying supplies from a bakery owned by the mayor and his spouse.
In another case, a mayor allegedly padded receipts for food in his liquidation report. The mayors involved were all dismissed.
Added to this, the Ombudsman Visayas indicted a former town mayor, now a town councilor, for receiving honoraria he was not entitled to.
Not entitled
Former Sibonga town mayor and now town councilor Lionel Bacaltos now faces a criminal case for violating the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act (Republic Act 3019) particularly for “causing undue injury to the government.”
His wife Caroline is the incumbent mayor.
Graft Investigation and Prosecution Officer Rheia Tibon said Bacaltos acted with bad faith when he received honorarium intended for municipal health workers, given by the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth) for a health care program they had sponsored.
“The letter (from PhilHealth) stated that 20 percent of the fund shall be exclusively utilized as honoraria of municipal health personnel. While the same letter does not prohibit the chief executive from receiving, it does not mean that respondent is entitled to the honorarium even if he is not a health personnel,” her resolution read.
Tibon’s ruling was approved by Deputy Ombudsman for the Visayas Paul Elmer Clemente and Ombudsman Conchita Carpio Morales.
Cebu Daily News tried to get Bacaltos’ statement, but he did not answer the calls. A text message sent to him was also left unanswered as of Wednesday afternoon.
A certain Mary Joejie Chan filed a complaint before the anti-graft office in October 2015, accusing Bacaltos of influencing municipal officers to include him in the list of the honoraria recipients.
In a letter dated May 28, 2012, PhilHealth Regional Vice President William Chavez informed then mayor Bacaltos that 20 percent of the fund shall be allocated as honoraria of municipal health personnel.
In February 2015, Bacaltos certified the Obligation Request representing 20 percent of the PhilHealth honoraria to members of the municipal health personnel in the amount of P280,197.
Attached to the request was the list of recipients which included Bacaltos.
Tibon said the list showed that Bacaltos received a total of P17,512.50 as honorarium despite not being a member of the municipal health personnel.
In his counter-affidavit, Bacaltos said there was nothing illegal in receiving a part of the honoraria from PhilHealth as the PhilHealth letter did not prohibit the chief legal executive from receiving an honorarium.
But Tibon said, “Respondent cannot claim that he is a part of the non-health professional/staff of the health facility. Certainly, respondent caused undue injury to the government for receiving an honoraria despite not being entitled thereto.”
Dumanjug
Meanwhile, Dumanjug town Mayor Efren “Gun-gun” Gica was officially served his dismissal order yesterday morning, about a week after filing his motion for reconsideration to contest the order from the Office of the Ombudsman.
In a phone interview, Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) Provincial Director Jerome Gonzales said he served the Ombudsman’s order at the office of Gica at around 10:51 a.m.
They posted the order on the door of the mayor’s office as Gica was not present and his secretary refused to accept it on Gica’s behalf.
“Good as served na to,” said Gonzales.
Vice Mayor Rene Asentista now officially sits as mayor of Dumanjug.
When reached for his comment, Gica sent a text message to Cebu Daily News denying the allegations against him, which resulted in his dismissal.
“Basta wala ko mag-falsify ug public documents and wala ko nangawat og P10,000 (I did not falsify public documents and I did not steal P10,000),” he said.
Gica was ordered dismissed from service after he was found administratively guilty of dishonesty and grave misconduct by the Office of the Ombudsman.
The Ombudsman found probable cause to file criminal charges of malversation of public funds, falsification of documents and violation of the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act against Gica who was serving his first term as mayor of Dumanjug.
It was his arch political rival and predecessor, former mayor Nelson Garcia, who filed a complaint before the Ombudsman, alleging that Gica tampered with a receipt, bloated the amount therein and submitted this in his liquidation report.
According to Garcia’s complaint, Gica submitted a report that he spent P28,565 of the P50,000 cash advance to pay for the dinner of the barangay officials who attended the Association of Local Barangay Officials (Albo) seminar.
Garcia said that Gica falsified his liquidation report, alleging that only P11,435 was actually paid for the dinner based on a supposed certified true copy of the original receipt issued by Ding Qua Qua Dimsum, where the Albo dinner was held.
Garcia also accused Gica of bloating the number of attendees when the latter claimed that 100 guests went to the dinner when there were only 39 attendees.
Gov. Hilario Davide III said that he is saddened by the turn of events as he believes Gica is a very competent mayor.
“I’m saddened because he is very very competent mayor, dako jud atong pagsalig niya (I have great trust in him),” he said. “Mao ako gatuo ko nga kani kasoha duna gyud ga-orchestrate ani nga gadali-dali. (I believe this case is being orchestrated.) Pero I hope that he will be able to secure a restraining order from the Court of Appeals. I know that he has already filed a motion for reconsideration. I am confident that the charges against him will be dismissed,” he said.
Meanwhile, the governor accepted the resignation of Aloguinsan mayor Augustus Caesar Moreno, who was also dismissed from service, along with his wife Cynthia and some members of the town’s Bids and Awards Committee (BAC).
Under the law, Moreno’s resignation will become effective only upon acceptance by the governor or upon the lapse of 15 days if no action is taken.
“I hope he already received my letter accepting his resignation today. I would just want to thank him for his service to the town and his support and cooperation during his incumbency to the provincial government,” Davide said.
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