Gov’t nurse suspended for tampering OR

THE Office of the Ombudsman has ordered the suspension of a nurse assigned at a government-run school for allegedly tampering an official receipt to gain P300.

Reafil Palema, who is detailed at the Cebu Technological University (CTU) in Danao City, was found liable for simple misconduct and was ordered suspended for one month without pay.

The anti-graft office directed the president of CTU to implement the penalty.

Aside from the administrative offense, Palema is also facing trial on charges of falsification of commercial documents.

In her ruling, graft investigation and prosecution officer Mona Chica Cabanes-Gillamac said the respondent may not have the intention to malverse the amount since the latter just wanted a reimbursement for things she bought in connection to a laboratory examination of the school’s water supply.

However, Gillamac said Palema took the wrong move in claiming her reimbursement by altering an official receipt.

“Respondent should not have taken short cuts. By altering the amount of the receipt, respondent, who is a public officer, had taken advantage of her official position, thus the elements of falsification are definitely present,” Gillamac said.

In 2014, Palema was sent to the University of San Carlos’s Water Laboratory in Talamban, Cebu City to bring the findings of the Danao City Health Department that found E. coli bacteria in CTU’s water supply.

The actual cost of the water analysis was only P1,160. However, the respondent asked for a reimbursement of P1,460.

In her counter-affidavit, Palema said a bookkeeper of the school advised her to alter the figures on the official receipt to include the expenses which were not covered in the receipts such as the purchase of sterile bottles.