Ex-Mayor Lim, his 2 officials charged before Ombudsman
BOAT SUPPLIER PAID WITHOUT DELIVERY
AN incumbent official and a former official of the past Lim administration filed a complaint on April 19, 2024 before the Ombudsman for Northern Luzon accusing former Dagupan City Mayor Brian Lim, two other past officials, and an official of a supplier for alleged misappropriation of public funds prejudicial to the interest of the government and falsification of public documents in connection with the alleged ghost delivery of two wooden diesel-powered motor boats for P999,750,00 (P499,875 each) but which were paid by the city government.
The complaint was filed by Bernard Cabison, presently chief of the Waste Management Division of Dagupan, who held a similar position under Lim, and Melchor Guiang, formerly Lim’s General Service Officer.
Others cited as respondents were former city officials, Eva Daroy, city accountant, and Romelita Alcantara, city treasurer; and Evangeline Doria of the Golden Vision Construction and Supply, a company based in Basista town.
The two complainants alleged in their four-page joint complaint-affidavit that both Daroy and Alacantara issued the payment for the two ghost motorboats after noting that they, Cabison and Guiang, inspected and received the motorboats although their signatures in the Property Acknowledgment Receipt (PAR) and Inspection and Acceptance Report (IAR) were falsified .”
Cabison said he was surprised when he received an Audit Observation Memorandum (AOM) from the City Auditor ordering him and Guiang to refund the amount paid for the two wooden motorboats that they purportedly officially received but were not found in the inventory of equipment until Mayor Belen Fernandez took over the city government.
Both Cabison and Guiang were presented the documents that showed their signatures on the processed PAR and IAR documents for the payment.
Both asserted that the signatures over their printed names in two documents were forged.
Guiang cited, records show that Golden Vision Construction and Supply did not deliver the items and knew this to be a fact because he was the head of the General Service Office at the time.
According to the boat maker, identified only as “Lot Caballero,” he never met any official of the Golden Vision Construction and Supply who ordered the two boats to be constructed and never negotiated the price with for his services nor paid for the same.
Cabison took photos of the unfinished and undelivered motorboats and attached these in their affidavit-complaint because Caballero refused to sign the affidavit certifying to the non-delivery of the boats since he was not aware of the terms for the purchase.
“What was worse (is that) despite our assertion that we were innocent and that our signatures were forged and falsified in the PAR and IAR, we are being implicated in the case of ghost delivery”, when the City Auditor ordered them to pay for the pockets of the two missing motorboats.
The two complainants also questioned why the City Auditor did not conduct a post-audit after the two “ghost projects” were paid. (Leonardo Micua)
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