Some Lorega officials in hot water for graft

Some officials of barangay Lorega-San Miguel are now in hot water for allegedly pocketing part of the taxes by falsifying the duplicate copies of tax receipts.

Acting deputy Ombudsman for the Visayas Virginia Palanca-Santiago went to the barangay yesterday to look into the complaint of barangay employee Joan Enriquez.

Barangay secretary Milagros "Mely" Merino and barangay revenue personnel Edgar "Loloy" Nillas were the objects of the investigation as they are the ones who issued official receipts to taxpayers.

Santiago also found out that both Merino and Nillas are not bonded officers as required by the Commission on Audit which mandated government officials and employees to post bond before they could be allowed to receive and handle public funds.

To prove her accusation that Merino and Nillas are involved in illegal activities, Enriquez submitted to the Ombudsman photocopies of official receipt No. 4979368 issued to Arcadio A. Cortez and receipt No. 4979372 issued to Beverly Yu on January 2.

Based on the official receipts, it was found out that Cortez and Yu paid P500 each when they applied for business clearances, and that it was Merino who reflected the amount in the taxpayer's copy of the receipt but it was Nillas who signed it as collecting officer.

Aside from allegedly reducing the amount to only P50 in the triplicate copy of the receipt issued to Yu, it was also found out that it was no longer Yu who is the taxpayer of receipt No. 4979372 but a certain "Rachel Bernandiza."

Merino tried to convince Santiago that her role was only to write in the original copy of the receipt the real amount collected from the taxpayer, and that it was not she who wrote the reduced amount in the duplicate and triplicate copies of the receipts.

But Santiago quickly told her, "Imo man ning agi, klaro kaayo, dili ka makalimod." Merino was compelled to remain silent until the inquiry was finished.

In some cases involving graft and corruption, the Ombudsman would just deputize the COA to conduct the investigation. But this time, Santiago said she would personally handle the probe and has promised that anybody found liable would be penalized.

Santiago brought more than a dozen booklets of receipts - all duplicate and triplicate copies - that were used by the barangay in the past months hoping to uncover more anomalies of some barangay officials.

Aside from Merino and Dizon, barangay treasurer Rolando Maloloy-on would be included in the investigation for allegedly allowing other person to handle the issuance of official receipts even if they are not bonded officers.

But Maloloy-on said it was barangay captain Fortunato Parawan who allowed it. Parawan, however, denied Maloloy-on's claim.

Santiago believed that there are more similar questionable transactions involving other taxpayers in the barangay.

Acting barangay captain Lorenzo Monsanto and councilman Fritzgerald Herrera said the income of the barangay from business clearance and other permit applications went down from P120,000 in 2003 to only P20,000 in 2004.