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Wednesday, September 28, 2005
Osmeña sacks consultant, but won’t sue him
Mayor Tomas Osmeña yesterday confirmed that he fired one of his consultants, who forged his and the assistant city administrator’s signature on official documents supporting his consultancy fee.
But the mayor said he changed his decision to press charges against Demosthenes Inso, a member of the mayor’s management team and a consultant on financial management and business processes, as he does “not want to overload the City Legal Office.”
Besides, Osmeña said, Inso did “not attempt to steal money” from the City Government.
“There was no malice, no intent. He just forged the signatures to fast-track the release of his honorarium and shorten the procedures,” Osmeña told a news conference yesterday.
Later, however, the mayor revealed he was “not even sure if I’m making the right decision.”
Pre-audit
Told that Inso already submitted his resignation letter last Monday, Osmeña said he will not accept the resignation letter because he already fired the consultant.
When sought for comment on the alleged involvement of another consultant, the mayor said he will talk to the person about the matter.
Emma Compra, cashier IV at the City Treasurer’s Office, was pre-auditing last Thursday the vouchers for the payroll and verifying the authenticity of the signatures when she found that a different signature appeared on the consultant’s accomplishment report where Osmeña should sign.
A different signature also appeared in Box A of the voucher supporting the P16,000 consultancy fee of Inso for August. Jovy Morelos, assistant city administrator, should be the one to sign.
Another case
Compra also found a voucher of another consultant’s claim for travel reimbursement with a signature that is not City Accountant Edna Jaca’s.
She immediately brought the vouchers to City Administrator Francisco Fernandez, who reported the matter to the mayor.
Fernandez said that lawyer Ralph Sevilla, head of the Human Resource Department, investigated the irregularity last week.
Inso submitted his resignation letter dated Sept. 23. He said his resignation was effective last Aug. 30. Inso did not state any reason for leaving.
“I won’t accept his resignation. I just terminated his services,” Osmeña said yesterday.
But the mayor said he will “not make it a habit of looking into” other similar cases of forging signatures in the processing of documents at City Hall, even if these would involve a multi-million peso transaction.
“Otherwise, we’ll end up with nothing else to do,” he said.
Osmeña insisted the City’s legal staff is “overworked and it takes months to prepare a case.” (GAC)
(September 28, 2005 issue)
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