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By Jomar Canlas Reporter
CRIMINAL charges were filed
before the Office of the Ombudsman against former Nueva Ecija Gov.
Tomas Joson III and two local provincial officials.
In a complaint-affidavit lodged
by Dr. Raymund Sarmiento, head of the Nueva Ecija provincial
government’s Public Affairs and Monitoring Office, charges of
Malversation of Public Funds and Violation of the Anti-Graft and
Corrupt Practices Act were filed against Joson, Lilia de Jesus and
Adoracion Del Rosario-Sumangil, both former Nueva Ecija provincial
treasurers.
It was alleged in the complaint
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 Corporation (QUEDANCOR), a government owned and controlled
corporation.
The said amount constituted
payments made by provincial government employees, by way of salary
deduction, who availed of loans under a livelihood assistance
program of the national government through QUEDANCOR.
“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,” the complaint said.
Under P.D. No. 1445 or the
Government Auditing Code of the Philippines, the said loan payments
due to QUEDANCOR are considered public funds held in trust, and 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.”
Sarmiento pointed out that the
non-remittance 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.
“(r)espondents are guilty of
gross inexcusable negligence for unjustly failing to remit the loan
amortizations deducted from the salaries of the borrower employees,
which ultimately caused undue injury to the provincial government of
Nueva Ecija,” the complaint said.
Both De Jesus and Del Rosario-Sumangil
were charged with Joson since they were the officers involved in the
commission of the said acts noted in the complaint.
Sarmiento further asserted that
the three caused undue injury to the government, in violation of
Section 3 (e) of the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act.
It was pleaded before Ombudsman
Maria Merceditas Navarro-Gutierrez to file the criminal charges at
the Sandiganbayan against the respondents and to order the
preventive suspension of De Jesus and Del Rosario-Sumangil, who are
currently holding the position of Asst. Provincial Treasurer, and
Chief of the Land Tax Division of the Office of the Provincial
Treasurer, respectively.
This would prevent them from
tampering with the evidence and from intimidating the witnesses or
from committing further acts of malfeasance while in office.
It was alleged in the
affidavit-complaint that the 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 a month on every
delayed remittance, which was also stipulated in the said memorandum
of agreement.
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.
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