BIR worker axed for malversation

The Office of the Ombudsman has ruled that the distance between the workplace of a government revenue collector and the depository bank is not a justified reason for delays in the remittance of their collections or spending it for their personal use.

That was the reason why Alberto Modesto Jr., revenue officer of the Bureau of Internal Revenue assigned in Palo, Leyte, was dismissed from service by Ombudsman Ma. Merceditas Gutierrez after being accused of failing to remit his collections on time and malversing P112,000.

The record showed that the amount was Modesto's tax collections from three different municipalities in Leyte and Biliran from April 2000 to October 2001. Although, he reimbursed the funds that he spent, the Ombudsman explained it cannot exonerate him of the charge, but instead tightens his guilt.

Modesto explained that the town of Cabucgayan in Biliran is more than a hundred kilometers away from the BIR district where he remits his collections and he lacks fare whenever he goes there twice a week.

He said his problem worsened when his father was hospitalized and he had to shoulder the bills, then his house also burned down in 2001.

The graft investigators said his other contentions are personal in nature and they cannot be considered valid defenses.

Gutierrez and Visayas deputy Ombudsman Virginia Santiago will be having a symposium today with barangay officials from Tanjay City in Negros Oriental.

The participants of the affair will be taught how to prevent and how to help the government's campaign against graft and corruption.

Gutierrez launched the project of conducting symposiums with the barangay officials to acquaint them with anti-corruption laws and familiarize them with proper procedures in government transactions, particularly bidding procedures.

She noted that most of the barangay officials who were charged before the Ombudsman acted out of haste to solve the problems confronting their respective barangays without concern for existing laws governing transactions. - Rene U. Borromeo