‘Politically motivated’: Mayor Chiong sued over‘illegally disbursed’ funds

CEBU, Philippines - Naga City Mayor Valdemar Chiong is facing charges before the Office of the Ombudsman-Visayas over the disbursement of public funds in 2013 allegedly without supporting documents.

The complainants were Adonel Dela Fuente, Ron Del Mar and Narciso Tablate, all residents of Naga City, who claimed to be taxpayers in their complaint.

They sued Chiong for malversation or technical malversation of public funds, violation of the Government Procurement Act, of the Auditing Rules and Procedures, of Section 344 of the Local Government Code on Certification and Approval of Vouchers, of the Code of Conduct of Public Officials, gross misconduct, abuse of authority and other pertinent laws.

In their complaint, the three alleged that Chiong disbursed more than P1 million as assistance to the Commission on Election in 2013. Their allegation is based on the Commission on Audit 2013 Annual Report that the disbursements were made without legal basis.

“The Naga City Government gave a P1,082,131.62 assistance to the Commission on Election during the national, local and barangay elections contrary to Section 10 of the Omnibus Election Code of the Philippines (Batas Pambansa Bilang 881) thus, the payments were made without any legal basis,” the findings of the COA read.

According to the complainants, what the mayor did was not only inappropriate and improper but has also compromised the independence of Comelec.

“While COA recommended that Naga City Government properly bill COMELEC to refund the amount advanced, there is no guarantee that COMELEC will refund the amount because Mayor Chiong has no basis in law to release the said amount,” the complaint read.

The complainants further disclosed that the COA found out that P443,844.22 of the total disbursement was spent as overtime payment for city personnel allegedly at excessive rates.

The three claimed that the overtime payment to job orders, casual and regular employees of various offices in Naga City who served during the election were not authorized under any Comelec guidelines or circular.

“On top of that, said payments are also found to be excessive compared to the authorized honoraria of the Board of Election Inspectors (BEI) and their support staff, Department of Education supervisors and their support staff,” they further stated.

The audit body also found out that 30 percent or P327,370 of the amount was spent on meals without supporting documents and no public bidding being conducted, which is a violation of the Government Procurement Reform Act, the complainants continued.

Sought for comment, Chiong believes that the complainants are just trying to look for issues that could be imputed to him and that their move was politically motivated since they are planning to run come 2016 elections as council members of the city.

Del Mar, Chiong said, is also a brother of incumbent councilor Vinci Del Mar, who is planning to run as mayor in next year’s polls.

The mayor denied the allegations, saying that the disbursement was already justified to the audit body.

He explained that a local government unit is allowed under the Omnibus Election Code to shell out funds to defray the expenses of Comelec. He said the amount was also included in the appropriation ordinance of the city. — Mylen P. Manto and Michael Vencynth H. Braga/NSA (FREEMAN)