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Nestor Favila, the former special projects head of the National Home
and Mortgage Finance Corp., who was found guilty for grave
misconduct in April, will finally pay the price for his acts after
the Office of the Ombudsman on Wednesday sought his expulsion from
government service.
Acting Ombudsman Orlando Casimiro ordered
Favila’s expulsion from government service since the former
housing official was found to have extorted money from Nais
Homeowners Association Inc. members Jovita Sobrevilla, Leonila
Betacora, Florante Padua and Ernesto Jimenez.
Further investigations revealed that Favila also
asked for P500,000 that he claimed will be given to the Housing and
Urban Development Coordinating Council (HUDCC), of which the
mortgage agency is under, to fast-track the approval of the
association’s P10-million loan application.
Favila served the mortgage agency under the
chairmanship of Vice President Noli de Castro’s good friend, Celso
Angeles. Angeles, however, didn’t last a year in office.
De Castro, also the housing body’s chairman,
cited Favila’s case as a stern warning against government
employees engaging in graft practices.
“Unscrupulous individuals do not belong in the
government service. I will not allow anybody to defeat the noble
objectives of the housing sector,” de Castro said.
Operatives from the housing agency and the
National Bureau of Investigations caught Favila in an entrapment
operation on June 24, 2005, while accepting P85,000 worth of marked
money.
“I will never tolerate corruption in the
housing sector for as long as I am at the helm of HUDCC,” de
Castro said during Favila’s arrest.
-- Llanesca T. Panti
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