Friday, April 04, 2008 Ombud to probe airport official
THE anti-graft office has upgraded into a formal criminal and administrative investigation the complaint filed against an airport official accused of falsifying his school records to get a government appointment.
Chief Administrative Officer Elpidio Montecillo of the Office of the Ombudsman-Visayas said the complaint has been assigned to an anti-graft investigator, who is expected to submit an initial report to Deputy Ombudsman Pelagio Apostol.
Businessman Crisologo Saavedra, the person who filed the complaint on what is now referred to as the Asean Lamppost scam, filed the complaint against Romeo Bersonda last month.
Bersonda is the concurrent chairman of the airport’s Bids and Awards Committee (BAC) and is overseeing projects that include the P132.9 million airport taxiway asphalt overlaying and painting.
Qualifications
According to Saavedra’s complaint, Bersonda does not possess all the qualifications for the position when he was appointed the Airport Operations Manager. The qualifications are listed in Republic Act 6958, the law that created the Mactan Cebu International Airport Authority.
While the required credentials were submitted later, with Dr. Jovenal Toring of the Indiana Aerospace University (IAU) certifying them as true and correct, Saavedra said these could be falsified.
He said 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.
Bersonda’s other credentials include a certificate of completion in the Private Pilot Ground Course and Instrument Course and Commercial Pilot Ground Course of the Philippine Aviation Corp.
He submitted documents on his degree in Bachelor of Science in Aircraft Maintenance Technology from the IAU in 2003.
Course
Saavedra, however, said the course was actually for Aviation Technology, according to a certification by the Commission on Higher Education (Ched) 7.
He impleaded Toring in the charge albeit the latter is not a public official. 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)
