PROVINCIAL Legal Officer Jose Maria Valencia said on Tuesday, June 6, that they are preparing criminal charges for falsification of public documents against the perpetrators of fake quarry coupons in Negros Occidental.
Its proliferation caused the Provincial Government to lose millions.
Valencia said that after conducting hearings, the Provincial Legal Office (PLO) decided not to continue with the administrative proceedings anymore because they will file criminal charges.
The Provincial Treasurer’s Office intercepted the operation.
“The permit coupons are bought at the Treasurer’s Office depending on the volume of quarry and it will be surrendered to the Provincial Environment Management Office and will go back to the Treasurer’s Office and it is where fake permits were discovered,” Valencia said.
“Under the law, he who benefits out of the false document is presumed to be the forger,” he added.
During the Provincial Board committee hearing, it was discovered that the Kabankalan City quarry operator’s fake quarry coupons used the same serial numbers as the legitimate ones released earlier.
Galvez case
Meanwhile, Valencia said they are waiting for the decisions of the Office of the Ombudsman and the Civil Service Commission (CSC) on the cases of Engineer Leo Galvez of the Provincial Engineer's Office.
The PLO chief said that a supplier filed the complaint against Galvez due to pending payments after he allegedly failed to act on their documents when he was still assigned to conduct inspection under the Provincial Administration Office.
Valencia said he told Galvez to act on pending documents so that payments to the suppliers can be properly acted upon.
For his part, Galvez filed a complaint with the CSC after he was allegedly put on a “floating status” after he requested to be assigned at the Provincial Engineer's Office.
The CSC has asked the Provincial Human Resources Office to form a grievance committee to handle the complaints of Galvez, but Valencia said that because of the pending cases, the PLO cannot act on the matter because it will fall on forum shopping.