Tuesday, October 10, 2007 ‘Cashless cashier’ system at LTO 7
AFTER it lost millions of pesos to its cashier, the Land Transportation Office (LTO) 7 is now considering a “cashless” system to pay for its workers’ salaries and other operating expenses.
LTO 7 Director Alex Leyson yesterday said he is now negotiating with the Land Bank of the Philippines to provide them with an automated teller machine (ATM) facility for the salaries of personnel.
The agency is also considering the use of electronic banking to pay for electricity and water bills.
“If (the proposal is) approved, the present cashier and the LTO 7 finance department will just issue vouchers and payment advice which will be made (as) basis by Land Bank to make payments,” Leyson said.
Meanwhile, Leyson said they were not able to file criminal and administrative charges against cashier Marissa Abear Veriña because Legal Officer Vicente Gador Jr. is still fine-tuning the complaint and completing all documents to support it.
The case will be finally filed today with the Office of the Ombudsman-Visayas.
Once the charges are filed, Leyson said he will request the anti-graft office to issue a hold-departure order against Veriña, who has reportedly abandoned her house in Deca Homes, Barangay Tung-kil, Minglanilla, Cebu.
Under the law, any hold-departure order issued by a competent office or the court will be implemented by the Bureau of Immigration.
When asked why Veriña issued a check in her name to pay the salaries of LTO personnel, Leyson said the practice has been going on for several years already.
He said that being the paymaster, Veriña with draws money for the salaries and releases it to individuals.
What Leyson cannot understand was why Veriña issued a check worth P706,000 to a certain Reynaldo Dante who is not a creditor of LTO.
Nobody in the LTO even knows Dante, said Gador.
Even though Dante is presumed to be a private citizen, he can be included by the Office of the Ombudsman-Visayas in the charges against Veriña because it appeared in the check that he was a recipient of missing government funds.
Leyson said that while administrative officer Gonzalo Baybay was also a signatory of the 19 checks involved in the P5.5 million missing government funds, he will not be included in the complaint.
It’s up to the anti-graft office to determine his liability, he added.
The P5.5-million liability is contained in the report of the audit team comprising Macario Getaruelas, Jinky Estrada and Lovelyn Sulip that Leyson created after Veriña disappeared.
The audit only covers January to July 2007 and does not include the previous years. (EOB)
