Tuesday, July 15, 2008 Cashier in Toledo LTO fund fraud kills self
THE Land Transportation Office (LTO) employee who committed suicide last July 11 was found to have embezzled government funds when he was assigned at the LTO office in Toledo City in 2002.
Antonio Felomino of corner Balagtas and Panganiban Sts., Cebu City failed to remit to the government P322,055 representing his collections of the LTO in Toledo City in 2002 where he was the Officer-in-Charge at that time.
Six years after, the LTO Regional Administrative Action Board (RAAB) tried to revive the case early this month.
However, Felomino committed suicide at 5:30 a.m. last Friday inside his house.
Assistant Regional Director Edgar A. Catarongan, the RAAB chairman, said it’s premature to conclude that the death of Felomino has something to do with the investigation of the malversation of public funds against him.
RAAB is an internal investigating body of the LTO tasked to investigate all administrative cases filed against LTO employees within the region, except the assistant regional director and regional director who are presidential appointees.
State Auditor Josefina Inoferio of the Commission on Audit (COA) has sent a communication to LTO 7 officials to discipline Felomino and recover the lost government funds.
This prompted Felomino to write a letter dated Nov. 17, 2003 to then director Alex Leyson, requesting the replenishment of the cash shortage through salary and bonus deductions.
The letter was received by the office of then regional finance officer Joel Tangpuz on Dec. 18, 2003. However, there was no deductions made and the P322,055 remained unpaid up to the present.
Incumbent Regional Finance Officer Jinky Estrada said that when the first deduction was supposed to be made, Felomino requested deferment because his wife died. Records showed there was no payment at all.
Catarongan said that even if the embezzled amount was replenished through salary deduction, it cannot cure the violations in handling government funds.
The inaction of the previous LTO 7 officials to the COA recommendation to the Felomino case was also repeated last year when LTO cashier Marissa Abear Veriña disappeared after carting away more than P5 million in LTO cash.
Several months before her disappearance, LTO high officials already knew that Veriña failed to account for government funds because she failed to release the salaries of her colleagues.
Some LTO employees who requested anonymity said that LTO officials did not strictly monitor the activities of both Felomino and Veriña because they, too, are part of the anomalies. (EOB)
