AFTER TWO YEARS

SAN CARLOS CITY–After two years, the Office of the Ombudsman finally acted on the complaints filed against an official of the city treasurer’s office here who was accused of falsifying documents to pilfer local government funds.

Leny Fermin, a Local Treasury Operations Officer II of the San Carlos City, was ordered dismissed from government service by the Ombudsman for grave misconduct, dishonesty and violation of Republic Act No. 6713 (An act establishing code of conduct and ethical standards for government officials and employees).

The Ombudsman also ordered the cancellation of eligibility, forfeiture of retirement benefits and perpetual disqualification from re-employment in government service of Fermin as well as the filing of charges for the second case of the complex crime of malversation of public funds through falsification through the filing of the corresponding information with the Regional trial Court of San Carlos City.

Fermin, who was the designated disbursing officer at the time, was also indicted in a separate resolution of the Ombudsman for the complex crime of Malversation through Falsification under Article 217 in relation to paragraph 1, Article 171 and Article 48 of the Revised Penal Code.

THE CASE

The decision stemmed from the cases filed against Fermin in 2009 by the Public Assistance and Corruption Prevention Office-Luzon represented by Marivic de la Cruz.

The decision of the Ombudsman took into consideration the fact that Fermin was responsible for the preparation of the Obligation Request and Disbursement Voucher to support a request for cash advance in her name in the amount of P9 million, supposedly for payment of various obligations in the city.

Fermin herself presented the cheque to the Land Bank of the Philippines for encashment on 21 March 2009.

On 11 May 2009, she told her co-respondent in the case, Arturo Mandapat Jr., that upon encashing the check, she was held at gunpoint by a man and a woman who then took the money right inside the bank.

Fermin’s account of a holdup was denied by LandBank personnel and security guards who executed respective affidavits on the alleged incident.

Mandapat also did not also report the alleged incident to Mayor Jullier Resuello until 18 May 2009.

Mandapat, for his part, was meted the penalty of suspension without pay for two months as he alleged in his counter-affidavit that he signed the Obligation Request and the Disbursement Voucher “in good faith” after the same had already been signed by the City Budget Officer and the City Accountant.

The criminal charges against him were recommended for dismissal by the Ombudsman “for lack of probable cause”.

The case was investigated by the National Bureau of Investigation and a Fact Finding Committee from the city government created by Resuello, which recommended the filing of a case against Fermin.

The investigation also determined that the signature of the mayor which was affixed on the subject check was falsified.

Furthermore, the disbursement voucher did not bear the signature of the mayor, which would have signified his approval of the disbursement.

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