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FORMER
Nueva Ecija governor Tomas Joson III and two officials
who used to be acting provincial treasurers are now
facing criminal complaints before the Ombudsman for
alleged malversation of public funds and violation of
the Antigraft and Corrupt Practices Act.
The
criminal charges were filed by Raymund Sarmiento, head
of the Nueva Ecija provincial government’s Public
Affairs and Monitoring Office, against Joson as well as
Lilia de Jesus and Adoracion del Rosario-Sumangil, both
former Nueva Ecija acting provincial treasurers.
Sarmiento alleged in his affidavit-complaint filed with
the Ombudsman on Monday that Joson, de Jesus and del
Rosario-Sumangil failed to remit loan payments amounting
to P1.457 million to the Quedan and Rural Credit
Guarantee Corp. (Quedancor), a government-owned and
-controlled corporation.
The said
amount constituted payments made by provincial
government employees, by way of salary deduction, who
availed themselves of loans under a livelihood
assistance program of the national government through
Quedancor.
Provincial government employees became eligible for the
program, dubbed as the Ginintuang Ani Countrywide
Assistance for Rural Employment Services Program for
Income Augmentation and Livelihood, by virtue of a
November 2001 memorandum of agreement entered into by
Joson, acting in behalf of the provincial government,
with Quedancor.
Aside
from the P1.457 million in loan payments that were not
remitted, the provincial government also failed to pay
Quedancor the penalty of 2 percent per month on every
delayed remittance, which was also stipulated in the
memorandum of agreement.
“For the
months of August, September, October and December 2004,
February up to July 2005, October, November and
December, 2006, and January up to May 2007, the
provincial government under the administration of
then-governor-respondent Tomas N. Joson III did not
remit to Quedancor the loan amortizations it
correspondingly deducted from salaries of the borrower
officials and employees,” Sarmiento said.
Attached
to his complaint are copies of the disbursement vouchers
for the deductions that were not remitted.
Sarmiento, invoking the provisions of Presidential
Decree 1445, the Government Auditing Code of the
Philippines, said the loan payments due to Quedancor are
considered public funds held in trust, and that the same
law states that such funds “may be spent only for the
specific purpose for which the trust was created or the
funds received.”
He
pointed out that the nonremittance of the said funds
raises the presumption that these were spent for some
other purpose, making Joson, de Jesus and del Rosario-Sumangil
liable for malversation of public funds under Article
217 of the Revised Penal Code.
De Jesus
and del Rosario-Sumangil were charged with Joson since
they were the accountable officers involved during the
commission of the acts being complained of.
The
complaint is also seeking the mandatory preventive
suspension of de Jesus and del Rosario-Sumangil, who are
currently holding the position of assistant provincial
treasurer and chief of the Land Tax Division of the
Office of the Provincial Treasurer, respectively, to
prevent them from frustrating or hampering their
prosecution by intimidating witnesses or tampering with
documentary evidence, or from committing further acts of
malfeasance while in office.
Joson
was governor of Nueva Ecija for three terms, from 1998
to 2007. De Jesus was acting provincial treasurer from
July 1 to September 30, 2005, while del Rosario-Sumangil
held the post, also in an acting capacity, from November
2, 2006 up to the end of Joson’s tenure in office last
year. (Z. Solmerin) |
