THE Office of the Ombudsman has imposed a six-month preventive suspension against the 12 Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) officials implicated in the anomalous P289 million flood control project in Naujan, Oriental Mindoro.
Assistant Ombudsman Mico Clavano said Ombudsman Jesus Crispin Remulla issued the preventive suspension against the following DPWH-Mimaropa officials:
Gerald A. Pacanan - Regional director
Gene Ryan A. Altea - former assistant regional director now director of DPWH Bureau of Maintenance
Ruben DS. Santos Jr. - Assistant regional director
Dominic G. Serrano- Chief of Construction Division
Felisardo S. Casuno - Project Engineer III
Juliet C. Calvo - Chief Maintenance Division
Lerma D. Cayco - Accountant IV, Bidding and Awards Committee (BAC)
Dennis P. Abagon - former officer-in-charge of Quality Assurance and Hydrology Division now officer-in-charge chief of the planning and design division; regular member of BAC
Montrexis T. Tamayo - officer-in-charge of Planning and Design Division
Timojen A. Sacar - Material Engineer
Grace Lopez - BAC member
Frierich Karl Camero - Legal Division Chief
Clavano said the suspension order stemmed from the administrative case that was instituted simultaneously with the criminal charge that were both recommended to the Office of the Ombudsman by the Independent Commission for Infrastructure (ICI).
Except for Lopez and Camero, all the said DPWH officials have been ordered arrested by the Sandiganbayan along with former Ako Bicol party list representative Zaldy Co and five officials of construction firm Sunwest Corporation over the irregularities in the implementation of a P289-million road dike project in Oriental Mindoro.
They are facing charges of malversation through falsification and two counts of graft.
Of the 10 DPWH-Mimaropa officials, nine, except for Sacar, are already under the custody of either the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) or the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI).
These nine individuals entered their not guilty plea before the Sandiganbayan Sixth Division. (TPM/SunStar Philippines)