The three were also slapped with perpetual disqualification from public office and all benefits due them were forfeited, Acting Ombudsman Orlando Casimiro said.
The case stemmed from a complaint filed by Rustico Tutol, Luis Estrada and Carmen Amores against Pichay, acting Lwua administrator Daniel Landingin, acting deputy administrator Wilfredo Feleo and corporate legal officer Arnaldo Espinas.
The complainants alleged that the four violated the Code of Conduct and Ethical Standards for Public Officials and Employees and grave misconduct.
Casimiro said his order is immediately executory against Pichay, Landingin and Feleo, based on “substantial evidence” that they committed grave misconduct for the unlawful disbursement of Lwua funds to buy the distressed Express Savings Bank Inc. (ESBI) for some P780 million.
Casimiro, however, did not explain why Espinas was not meted out perpetual disqualification from public office and forfeiture of benefits.
Casimiro said records show that Pichay sanctioned the investment without a memorandum of agreement and authority from the Monetary Board of the Bangko Sentral.
He said the investment runs counter to the “thrusts and policies of the government,” citing the December 4, 2009, letter of the Department of Finance addressed to the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas Deputy Governor Nestor Espenilla.
“The approval of the acquisition by the Office of the President [October 14, 2009] was obtained four months after Lwua had already acquired the bank,” Casimiro said.
On May 22 Casimiro suspended Pichay, a former congressman from Surigao del Sur, to prevent him from influencing the result of the investigation.
“We have now determined that it is very likely that there would be a manipulation of evidence through intimidation of witnesses or tampering with records,” Casimiro was quoted as saying then.
Casimiro’s order came in the wake of the decision of President Aquino to sack the three Lwua board members—Bonifacio Mario Peña, Susana Dumlao Vargas and Renato Velascofor—for the alleged anomalous purchase of the said bank.
It can be recalled that the complaint against the three board members was filed by Finance Secretary Cesar Purisima.
Lwua supposedly gained 20-percent control of ESBI’s voting stock, but it was nevertheless disadvantageous to the government because no income came out from it, the complainants said.
They further alleged that Lwua did not earned from such investment and the P450-million capital subscription because of lack of documents to protect the agency’s interest.
“The evidence sufficiently bears out that the acts, which they allegedly committed, constitute the administrative offense of grave misconduct which would, if proved eventually to have been actually committed after the conduct of appropriate proceedings, warrant their dismissal from the service,” the Ombudsman said, after reviewing the documents presented by the complainants.
“Although Lwua as a government corporation with special charter has power to create subsidiary corporations, such as a specialized banking institution, such powers is still subject to the review and approval of the President of the Philippines,” Ombudsman investigators said.
