Wednesday, October 15, 2008
3 LTO 7 employees dismissed
THREE regular employees of the Land Transportation Office (LTO) 7 have been dismissed from service after they were found guilty of falsifying vehicle registration documents in 2004.
Although the Office of the Ombudsman-Visayas ruled on the case four years ago yet, it was only last Monday that an order, signed by LTO 7 Director Raul Aguilos, was issued to have the three workers dismissed.
Leonardo Olaibar, senior traffic regulations officer; Gemma Cabalit, cashier; and Filadelfo S. Apit, clerk II were fired from their jobs for falsifying receipts and for pocketing money in 87 transactions from 1998 to 2001.
This resulted in huge losses in the operations of the LTO in Tagbilaran City.
It was the Commission on Audit (COA) legal and adjudication cluster that filed the original complaint against the three after COA investigators obtained the payor’s copy of the falsified receipts.
Upon comparison with the office copy of the same receipts, auditors found a huge variance.
‘Padded receipts’
In one transaction, one Augustin Pagaran paid P1,002 for the registration of his vehicle. While Pagaran’s copy reflected the amount he paid, the office copy showed that the payment was made by a certain Rodrigo Agustin in the amount of P255 for a motorcycle.
When the three were ordered dismissed from service in 2004, they managed to secure a temporary restraining order (TRO) from the Court of Appeals (CA) in Cebu, preventing the anti-graft office and the LTO 7 from implementing the dismissal.
The three also sought reconsideration from the graft office but were denied by then Deputy Ombudsman Primo Miro.
The CA, which issued the TRO, affirmed the decision of the anti-graft office in a decision dated Jan. 18, 2006. Again, they filed an appeal but this was similarly denied.
Assistant Regional Director Edgar Catarongan, who is also head of the Regional Administrative and Adjudication Board of LTO 7, said that the lawyer of the three called up the office yesterday and requested to hold the implementation of Aguilos’ order as they have filed a petition for certiorari before the Supreme Court.
But Catarongan said that this can only be done when the three present a TRO from the High Tribunal. (EOB)
For Bisaya stories from Cebu. Click here. (October 15, 2008 issue)
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