P288T IN SNACKS COST 7 TOP JOBS
Aloguinsan town officials bought food for at least 5 months from a bakery that the mayor’s family owned. Mayor Caesar Moreno says his lawyer will help him, wife Cynthia avail of all legal remedies.
The Office of the Ombudsman sacked seven officials of Aloguinsan Municipal Government over the allegedly anomalous purchase of food supplies worth P287,725 in 2010.
Maria Janina Hidalgo, assistant special prosecutor, dismissed from the service Aloguinsan Mayor Augustus Caesar Moreno, his wife and former mayor Cynthia, and five bids and awards committee (BAC) members for grave misconduct.
Apart from the dismissal, the anti-graft office also recommended the filing of a string of criminal cases for violation of Republic Act 3019, or the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act, before the Sandiganbayan against them.
The respondents failed to comply with the procurement process in buying the food supplies, the ombudsman said. Augustus Caesar and Cynthia will be charged separately with violation of Sec. 3(h) of RA 3019.
Cynthia will also be charged separately with violation of Sec. 9, in relation to Sec.11 of RA 6713 (Code of Conduct and Ethical Standard for Public Officials and Employees)
“Passing over the procurement papers, they repeatedly ignored glaring violations and consistently contributed to the propagation of the serially anomalous practices,” read Hidalgo’s 22-page joint resolution dated Nov. 21, 2016. The resolution was approved and signed by Ombudsman Conchita Carpio Morales on Nov. 28, 2016.
Also named respondents in the case were BAC members Pe- pito Maguilimotan, Nonela Villegas, Marilyn Flordeliza, Gertrudes Ababon, and Evangeline Manigos, who will be charged with violation of Sec. 3(e) of RA 3019.
If the dismissal penalty can no longer be enforced due to the respondents’ separation from government service, the penalty shall be converted into a fine equivalent to their salary for a year.
Sought for comment, Mayor Moreno said their lawyer is already drafting their motion for reconsideration.
“We will adhere (to the decision of the ombudsman). But we will also avail of legal remedies,” Moreno said.
The case stemmed from the complaint filed by the Visayas-Ombudsman’s Field Investigation Office, which accused the respondents of grave miscon- duct and violating the anti-graft law.
The ombudsman cited the complaint-affidavit of former Aloguinsan councilor Danilo Margallo, who accused the 10 municipal officials of committing irregular purchases of food supplies on various dates in 2010 from AVG Bakeshop totaling to P282,725.
Margallo said the Morenos violated the anti-graft law for approving the purchase of the food supplies from the bakeshop, which the couple owned.
The three other respondents were Maria Iris Andrino, then BAC member; Orven Nengasca, BAC technical working group; and Emilia Luz Celis, former BAC secretariat and now town councilor.
Cynthia approved the release of disbursement vouchers for the payment of the food February to July 2010. Augustus approved the disbursement vouchers’ release for the purchases made for the months of April, August and December in 2010.
The Moreno couple admitted owning the AVG Bakeshop, but claimed they later sold the bakeshop to certain Lyn Tojeno in 2007.
The Sandiganbayan’s First Division directed the DILG 7 to suspend for 90 days Cynthia Moreno and seven other town officials for dishonesty and misconduct over the irregular purchase of P1.19M worth of aluminum composite panels for the municipal building. Ombudsman Conchita Carpio-Morales, in her decision dated April 14, 2010, suspended Cynthia Moreno, then the town mayor, and husband Caesar, then the town’s vice mayor, for six months without pay for selling municipal-owned unserviceable dump trucks.