NSO also lost P50T to thief last February

On top of the P230,000 collections that has been declared missing at the National Statistics Office recently, another P50,000 was also lost sometime in February, but this was reportedly kept secret from the public.

NSO supervisor Felixberto Sato Jr. allegedly admitted to the investigators of the National Bureau of Investigation that the incident last month was not the first to happen at the NSO.  Sato allegedly told investigators that sometime in February there was also P50,000 stolen from his vault, but they did not report the matter to the NBI or to the police.

An internal investigation was reportedly conducted by the NSO but the culprit remains unknown and at large until now.

The NBI has already summoned three NSO employees, including Sato, and three security guards for investigation. They were likewise subjected to a polygraph examination but all of them passed the test.

Aside from Sato, the other employees who were subjected to polygraph examination include Leslie Marie Suazola and Juliet Paluga and security guards Nito Sialon, Victor Cutanda and Elmer Noynay.

NBI polygraph examiner Arnold Palma said there were no signs that the subjects were lying.

Special Investigator Arnel Pura, the agent assigned to the case, said that they will be calling on the other employees of the NSO in their investigation because everybody at the said agency is already a suspect.

Pura said if they fail to identify the culprit the officer who is supposed to be accountable for the money can be held liable for its loss.

Pura cited the case of assistant city prosecutor Rosendo Brillantes who was charged for the loss of the evidence under his custody.  The missing collection recently discovered at the NSO was seen as one of the reasons for the temporary closure of the NSO regional office.  –  Fred P. Languido/BRP