Dimataga on 113 indictments: ‘I was too complacent’

IT could have been complacency and too much trust that landed him an indictment of over a hundred cases by the Office of the Ombudsman.

“Siguro nasayop lang ko kay kompyansa ra kaayo ko nga namerma og mga dokumento kay ang mga konsehal nakapirma naman, ang ako naman lang ang kulang,” said Poblacion, Lapu-Lapu City Barangay Captain Allen Dimataga Jr.

(Maybe it was also my fault for being complacent in signing documents, seeing that councilors had already signed and only mine was lacking.)

Dimataga and his former secretary Ethel dela Serna are facing 92 counts of falsification of public documents and 21 counts of anti-graft violations for purchases amounting to P1.7 million.

The village chief blamed Dela Serna for the discrepancies and later fired her after learning of the Ombudsman investigation.

“Nakatubag man ko sa Ombudsman anang tuiga pero morag wala kaayo nako matarong og explain,” he said.

(I filed an answer before the Ombudsman that year but I think I was not able to explain it well).

He said his lawyer, Lapu-Lapu City Councilor Rico Amores, had initially talked about filing a motion for reconsideration before the Ombudsman.

Conflict

As Dimataga denied falsifying any documents, he also hinted that in 2013, he had conflicts with some of his barangay councilors, although these conflicts, he said, had been settled.

He asked people not to judge him as he was just doing his job and signed documents in good faith.

Lapu-Lapu City’s ABC President Jose Dungog said, “We really just have to be careful as public officials and give real service to the people and not personal interests.”