Tuesday, October 21, 2008 Chief suspended By Linette C. Ramos Sun.Star Staff Reporter
The Office of the Ombudsman-Visayas has suspended a Cebu City barangay captain for three months without pay for failing to account for a missing dump truck.
But while the anti-graft office found Buhisan Barangay Captain Rustica Asid guilty of simple neglect of duty, it also dropped the criminal complaint filed against her.
She was warned, however, that a similar offense committed in the future will warrant a more severe sanction.
The case stemmed from a letter-complaint of Buhisan Barangay Councilor Eutiquio Tabar, who alleged that Asid sold the barangay’s dump truck and pocketed the proceeds of the sale.
In an interview yesterday, Asid said that Assistant Ombudsman Virginia Palanca-Santiago’s recommendation to Tanodbayan Merceditas Gutierrez for her suspension was issued in August last year yet, but it was only implemented on Oct. 16.
“I was advised to make an appeal but I decided not to pursue it so I can have time to rest...Anyway, I know this is politically motivated,” she said in Bisaya.
Accusation
Tabar accused Asid of removing and selling parts of the truck in 2003, but state auditors and the graft investigator that looked into the complaint found no proof of the claim.
Attached to Tabar’s complaint was an affidavit of former barangay tanod Diosdado Corpuz, who claimed that he saw a maintenance personnel of the barangay “cut to pieces” the dump truck and sold the spare parts.
Tabar also submitted written testimonies of concerned citizens of Sitio St. Francis in Buhisan saying they saw how the dump truck was left to deteriorate even if they thought it could still be repaired.
But during a fact-finding investigation by the Commission on Audit (COA), Corpuz recanted his statement.
COA Auditor Evita Apostol also told the anti-graft office that she witnessed the turn-over of money and property accountabilities from former barangay captain Menandro Diola to Asid.
The dump truck, she said, was among those inventoried and was declared unserviceable.
There was no disclosure of the sale of the parts, she added.
Negligence
A report culled from an investigation later conducted by Apostol with another COA auditor, Carolina Mendez, found no “clear evidence” of the alleged sale.
But they considered Asid liable for failing to account for the absence of the vehicle that she received when she assumed office.
“She should have sold the vehicle at salvage value and turned over the proceeds to the barangay coffers instead of leaving it in open space,” the auditors said in the investigation report dated June 29, 2006.
They also noted that Corpuz had recanted his allegation, Tabar refused to be interviewed and the former barangay treasurer, Nimfa Agnada was not available for comment.
Overruled
As a result Graft Investigation and Prosecution Officer II Antonio Yap recommended the dismissal of the complaint, saying that Asid was not remiss in her responsibilities and that she has not personally benefited from the alleged sale of the truck.
But Santiago disagreed.
She said that while state auditors did not have any finding on the alleged sale of the parts of the dump truck, they made a categorical statement that Asid was remiss in her duty and responsibility in protecting government property.
“This finding of COA shows that the respondent committed dereliction of duty. She failed to safeguard the government property against loss and wastage,” Santiago’s Aug. 1. 2007 memorandum read.
