Thursday, March 06, 2008 MCIAA official 'falsified' school records to get job
BUSINESSMAN Crisologo Saavedra has asked the anti-graft office to look into the appointment papers of a Mactan-Cebu International Airport Authority (MCIAA) department head, saying some of the supporting papers were falsified.
It is not clear what motive Saavedra, a regular bidder in MCIAA procurements, has in bringing the issue up. But in a letter addressed to Deputy Ombudsman Pelagio Apostol yesterday, he impleaded the chairman and president of a Lapu-Lapu City-based aviation school in the alleged falsification.
He raised the same allegations in a complaint before the Civil Service Commission.
Central to the request for investigation are Romeo Bersonda, the MCIAA operations manager, and Dr. Jovenal Toring of the Indiana Aerospace University (IAU).
Bersonda is the chairman of the airport’s Bids and Awards Committee (BAC). Among the projects he is overseeing is the asphalt overlaying and painting of the airport taxiway. The approved budget for the contract is P132.9 million.
Late
According to Saavedra’s letter-request, Bersonda supposedly did not possess all the qualifications for the position as listed in Republic Act 6958, the law that created the Mactan Cebu International Airport Authority, when he was appointed operations manager.
While the required credentials were submitted later, with Toring certifying them as true and correct, Saavedra said these could be falsified.
He said that Bersonda held a vocational degree instead of the required college degree at the time of his appointment and submitted a copy of a 1968 diploma issued by the Feati University Institute of Vocational and Technical Education.
The diploma was issued after Bersonda completed an Aircraft Maintenance Engineering course.
Technical
Bersonda, whose other credentials include a certificate of completion in the Private Pilot Ground Course, Instrument Course and Commercial Pilot Ground Course of the Philippine Aviation Corp., submitted documents that he completed a degree in Bachelor of Science in Aircraft Maintenance Technology from the IAU in 2003.
Saavedra, however, said the finished course was actually for Aviation Technology, per certification by the Commission on Higher Education (Ched) 7.
He attached a photocopy of a 2003 Ched document declaring Bersonda “approved for eligibility for graduation” upon “satisfactory completion of the four-year course leading to/with the degree/title of Bachelor of Science in Aviation Technology.” The document bore the name of Canielario Aytona, chief education program specialist.
Saavedra said that Bersonda’s claims and Toring’s certification constitute perjury, falsification of public documents, dishonesty, grave misconduct and conduct prejudicial to the best interest of the government. (KNR)
