An administrative aide of Sibonga town, southern Cebu was dismissed from public service for tampering with over 300 official receipts.
The Ombudsman-Visayas found Robert Cortes guilty of dishonesty for the loss of nearly P1.3 million in government funds.
Graft investigation and prosecution officer Vivien Leigh Santiago-Lumangtad dismissed these charges against municipal treasurer Desideria Retes and municipal accountant Cheryl Rellin-Abreu for insufficiency of evidence.
Sibonga Mayor Lionel Bacaltos was directed to implement the penalty against Cortes.
In 2011, the anti-graft Public Assistance and Corruption Prevention Office (PACPO) investigated the mishandling of public funds in Sibonga.
A report of the Commission on Audit (COA) said Cortes mishandled government funds by tampering with 347 receipts from taxpayers and stallholders.
The receipts that were tampered with represented payments from real property taxes, business taxes, payment of market stall rentals and other revenues.
Cortes allegedly tampered the official receipts by changing the name of the payor, the date and the amount.
He didn’t file any counter-affidavit when asked by the Ombudsman-Visayas to refute the allegations against him.