Liloan vice mayor hit for cash advances
It’s the turn of Liloan Municipal Vice Mayor Lucelito Pilapil to be accused of wrongdoings.
Five members of the town council identified with Mayor Vince Franco “Duke” Frasco filed an administrative complaint against Pilapil with the Provincial Board (PB) for allegedly claiming cash advances for official travels that he did not attend in Bacolod and Boracay.
Pilapil, in a text message to Cebu Daily News, said that all councilors claimed cash advances for these trips as well.
“It can be checked with the treasurer’s office who hasn’t paid yet. I settled everything a long time ago. There is not a single centavo left for me to pay,” he said.
The vice mayor used to belong to the same One Cebu party as Mayor Frasco but parted ways in October.
He said the recent charges were a retaliation for the complaint he filed earlier against Frasco with the PB over alleged irregularities in the distribution of scholarship funds.
Pilapil is running for mayor under the Durano-led Barug Alang sa Kauswagan ug Demokrasya (Bakud) party.
He is running against Frasco’s wife, Christina Garcia, in next year’s polls.
Five members of the Liloan town council filed the complaints of grave abuse of authority, grave misconduct, gross negligence, serious dishonesty, violations of the code of conduct and ethical standards for public officials and employees, and conduct prejudicial to the best interest of the service.
In an affidavit, they said Pilapil had a pattern of claiming cash advances for official travels that he later would not attend.
The complainants are town councilors Thelma Jordan, former vice mayor; Lurgio Cañete; Vidal Cañete; Edna Cala; and Francisco Comendador III.
The charges were referred to the PB committee on complaints and investigation during yesterday’s regular board session at the Capitol.
The complainant cited as an example the Philippine Councilors League Credit Cooperative National Summit and General Assembly last August 20 to 22 in Bacolod City of which all councilors were invited to attend.
They said Pilapil’s travel documents were processed by the municipal council and his request for authority to travel was approved by Mayor Frasco.
Pilapil’s travel expense, per diem registration fees, and incidental expenses amounted to P13,440.
The councilors said Pilapil also collected per diems for travel dates for which he had no approved authority to travel.
On the day of departure, Pilapil did not show up.
Neither did he send to the delegation money entrusted to him for freight and shipping expenses since they were traveling by land using the council’s Hi-Ace van.
The same thing happened at the 3rd Quarterly National Board-National Executive Officers Meeting for 2015 and the 6th Series of Continuing Local Legislative Education Program (CLLEP) from September 9 to 11 in Boracay, they said.
Pilapil allegedly claimed travel expenses amounting to P23,100.
They said he had other questionable unliquidated cash advances spanning seven years that amounted to P132,942 as of October for amounts received since 2008.
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