CLARK FREEPORT -- The Angeles City Regional Trial Court has issued arrest warrants to Jester Machinal, former payroll section head of Clark Development Corporation – Special Project for Resorts Operations (CDC-SPRO) after allegedly "payroll padding" over P5.2 million from Mimosa employees, authorities said.
Angeles RTC branch 60 Judge Eda Dizon Era has issued two warrants of arrest against Machinal on October 10, 2014 for "unlawfully withholding" some 5,233,051.23 pesos from the salaries of the CDC-SPRO rank and file employees for his "personal gain".
Machinal has been indicted with two counts of theft before the Angeles RTC, which recommended a P20,000 bail for his provisional liberty.
After audit and investigation by CDC-SPRO's Business and Finance Unit, Machinal allegedly "padded" the salaries of the rank and file employees of CDC-SPRO for the period of March 2008 to March 2011.
As of press time, Machinal, who is a resident of Panday Pira, Dau Mabalacat City remains at large.
Meanwhile on December 2012, immediately after CDC president and chief executive officer Arthur Tugade assumed office, there were "brewing labor issues" at the CDC-SPRO, one of which was the illegal deduction of the salaries of the SPRO employees.
On April 19, 2013, a Notice of Strike (NOS) was filed by the Association of Clark Mimosa Employees (ACME), the rank and file union of CDC-SPRO represented by approximately 480 employees in its bargaining unit, with the National Conciliation Mediation Board (NCMB) Regional Office III which was docketed as NCMB-RBIII-CFP-PM-04-04-13.
In order to avert the threat of the impending strike of the union members and prevent significant financial losses of CDC-SPRO, the management sought the CDC Board for proper guidance and decision.
Thus, on May 10, 2013, the CDC Board of Directors filed a resolution that states "the budget and payment to Special Project for Resort Operations (SPRO) employees affected by the payroll padding amounting to P5,233,051.23."
On May 31, 2013 and June 14, 2014, the CDC-SPRO management released the reimbursements to some 664 CDC-SPRO rank and file employees affected by the "payroll padding".
Moreover, committed to good governance, the state-run corporation assisted several CDC-SPRO employees in filing several cases of theft/estafa/qualified theft against Machinal before the Office of the Provincial Prosecutor of Pampanga (OPP) on several dates in the months of August to September 2013.
Clark Development Corporation – Special Project for Resorts Operations, a legitimate organization engaged in resort services is located at Mimosa Leisure Estate, Clark Freeport Zone. (CDC-EAD)