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Wednesday, June 22, 2005
Sarangani execs, others dismissed
THE Office of the Ombudsman for Mindanao has denied the motion for recommendation filed by officials and employees of the Saranggani province allegedly involved in the loss of P46 million in public funds and upheld their earlier dismissal and suspension.
In an order dated May 31, 2005, the Office of the Ombudsman finally dismissed 16 officials and employees of Sarangani Province earlier sued by civil society organizations of having stolen or diverted P46 million in public funds intended for social projects.
Two other employees were ordered suspended for 90 days.
The order, signed by Ombudsman Simeon Marcelo, denied the motions for reconsideration of the 18 accused, thus confirming an earlier dismissal and suspension orders released in September 2004.
All accused were found guilty of grave misconduct and dishonesty in conniving with several top provincial officials to defraud the Provincial Government of Sarangani.
The funds were found to be have been released to several fictitious or dormant cooperatives, and non-existent projects, during the term of former governor Miguel Escobar.
An investigation by the Commission on Audit and the National Bureau of Investigation in 2003 recommended the filing of administrative and criminal cases against Escobar and then Vice-Governor Felipe Constantino, most of the then Provincial Board Members, Provincial Administrator and Provincial Planning Officer Perla Maglinte, Provincial Treasurer Cesar Cagang, Provincial Accountant Maria Camanay, Provincial Agriculturist Romeo Miole, Assistant Provincial Agriculturist Patricio Sol, and several other employees.
Sarangani People's Action for Reform and Good Governance (SpareGo), an umbrella coalition of civil society and non-government organizations in Sarangani filed the administrative and criminal cases against the 18 in September 2003. The group led a series of protest marches joined in by thousands of Sarangani constituents.
The administrative cases, applied to all of the appointive officials and employees, and thus dismissed Maglinte, Cagang, Camanay, Miole, Sol and 13 other
employees.
Escobar, former vice governor Felipe K. Constantino and other officials were likewise found guilty and the penalty of dismissal would have applied to them.
Instead, accessory penalties of cancellation of civil service eligibility, forfeiture of leave credits and retirement benefits, and disqualification from re-employment in government service were imposed on them.
The criminal cases against all the respondents have been resolved and forwarded by the Ombudsman to the Office of the Special Prosecutor for trial at the SandiganBayan.
"This means that wheels of justice still turns in this country," said Sarangani Governor Miguel Rene Dominguez of the Ombudsman decision.
"Those who have betrayed the public trust and broken the law should naturally face the consequences. We see that there's still hope against corruption, at least in this part of the country," said Dominguez. (RCB with PR)
For Bisaya stories from Davao. Click here. (June 22, 2005 issue)
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