Ex-DepEd Zamboanga officials face graft raps

THE - tion cases before the Sandiganbayan - ment of Education (DepEd) in Zamboanga Peninsula (Region 9).

The case against Jesus Nieves and Marilou Tolosa stemmed from their alleged withdrawal of P6.1million from a supposedly closed account in 2007.

The Ombudsman, in a statement, said the respondents did not submit

Based on the complaint of OMBMindanao’s Field Investigation Unit, it was shown that in August 2007, Tolosa allegedly requested the Philippine Veterans Bank (PVB) to close an account denominated as the Belgian Integrated Agrarian Reform Support Programme (BIARSP). The BIARSP account was kept for a special project funded by the government of Belgium.

On November 29, 2007, allegedly upon Nieves’s authority, PVB “debited the amount of P6,164,424.23 from the DepEd Trust Account and transferred the money to its closed BIARSP account,” according to the statement.

The respondents allegedly withdrew the whole amount of P6.1-million from the supposedly closed BIARSP account on December 3, 2007.

The Ombudsman said the Commission on Audit issued a notice of disallowance in June 2012 because the withdrawal was allegedly made without supporting documents.

A notice of disallowance informs those concerned of their participation in the transactions disapproved in audit and that they have to refund the amount indicated in the notice.