The Department of Finance has ordered the handing out of penalties against four municipal treasurers and one agent of the Bureau of Customs in connection with the separate cases filed against them before the Office of the Ombudsman.
The penalties handed down by the Ombudsman against said five erring government officials range from dismissal from service to suspension without pay.
DOF Secretary Carlos Dominguez III, acting on the rulings of the Ombudsman, has directed the Bureau of Local Government Finance to dismiss from the service Angelita Roble, the municipal treasurer of Tudela, Cebu and to suspend for one year without pay Local Treasury Operations Officer IV Marilou Rivera, officer-in-charge of the Office of the Provincial Treasurer in Misamis Oriental.
He also asked the BLGF to suspend municipal treasurer Cherryl Aguirre of Valladolid, Negros Occidental for three months without pay, and municipal treasurer Rosita Siniclang of Emilio, Ilocos Sur for one month and one day.
Dominguez likewise directed BOC Commissioner Nicanor Faeldon to suspend for two months without pay Special Agent Samuel Gamao Saed.
The Ombudsman found Roble guilty of serious dishonesty for failing to account some P250,000 in financial assistance released by the Presidential Social Fund 14 in November 2002.
Roble was unable to explain where and how the fund was spent.
Rivera was suspended without pay for one year after being found guilty of oppression and neglect of duty when she abused and capriciously used her authority in issuing warrants of garnishment and 152 warrants of levy against a Japan-based firm inside an economic zone in Misamis Oriental.
Siniclang was suspended for one month and one day for being guilty of simple neglect of duty when she was found liable for the loss of P693,960 in municipal funds stolen from her office.
The stolen money was for the bonuses of municipal employees.
Aguirre was suspended for three months without pay for simple misconduct when she authorized the payment of P288,271.88 to a hardware company who got the contract to supply construction materials without the required public bidding.
Saed of the BOC was suspended for his failure to file a sworn Statements of Assets, Liabilities and Networth (SALN) for 2009 and Disclosure of Business Interests and Financial Connections.
The Ombudsman suspended him without pay for only two months because this was his first offense with no mitigating or aggravating circumstances.
