Principal, two teachers 'liable' for malversation

CEBU, Philippines - The school principal and two teachers of Pasil Elementary School in Cebu City were indicted for malversation through falsification of public documents for presenting alleged faked documents to support the expenses that were reportedly incurred during the conduct of a seminar for teachers.

Graft Prosecutor Dyna Camba of the Office of the Deputy Ombudsman for the Military recommended the filing of case before the Regional Trial Court against Blesila Abunda, the school principal, and Shirley Lapidario and Florencio Barrera, both teachers of Pasil Elementary School.

The case stemmed from the complaint filed by Loreto Zamoras, a teacher of the same school.

Camba, with the approval of Emilio Gonzales, the Deputy Ombudsman for the Military and Other Law Enforcement Offices, said the preliminary investigation has been conducted, wherein they found a sufficient ground that the malversation had been committed by the respondents.

She recommended P30,000 bail bond for each respondents for their temporary liberty.

Zamoras alleged that on May 5 to 9, 2008, the Pasil Elementary School held a seminar on “Innovative Strategies in Teaching English, Science and Mathematics,” wherein the Department of Education disbursed P46,000 to fund the activity.

During the seminar, the school’s BENQ LCD projector was used for the power point. However, when the training was held at the University of San Carlos (USC)-South Campus on May 7 and 8, 2009, Pasil Elementary School’s projector was not used because USC provided it.

In the first week of June, Lapidario, the training organizer, told Zamoras that Abunda asked her to make a liquidation of the seminar’s expenses and make it appear that all the money provided by the DepEd has been totally spent.

Lapidario was however hesitant to follow the request of Abunda as the money disbursed by the DepEd was not spent.

Zamoras advised Lapidario to do the liquidation without making a lie which Lapidario allegedly did.

It was shown in the financial statement made by Lapidario a total of P28,808 was the expenses incurred during the five-day seminar with the balance of P17,292.

On July 4, Zamoras made a follow-up in DepEd office regarding the narrative and financial report of the training conducted by their school but was surprised when he discovered that the financial report reflected a zero balance. He said the report was incorrect and fraudulent.

Zamoras alleged the report contained in the acknowledgement receipt of Barrera showed she received P7,500 as rental for the LCD projector. He claimed that there was no rental happened.

He likewise questioned the reimbursement expense receipts signed by all respondents and added that daily allocation of P1,000 for an alleged food for two or three speakers for every training day was overpriced and was only supported by reimbursement expense receipts and not by the official receipt.

According to Zamoras, the financial statements previously made by Lapidario showed teachers Helen Genson and Rebecca Villafuerte, including Cipriano Balili of DepEd Cebu City, received P500 for their services.

However, Vincent Ryan Cañete, disbursing officer of DepEd-Cebu City informed Zamoras upon inquiry that all DepEd personnel are not qualified to receive fee for services rendered in any training or seminar sponsored by the DepEd office.

Abunda alleged that Lapidario was the one who prepared the training design and submitted the same to the DepEd and in return, the DepEd released P46,100 in favor of Pasil Elementary School.

She said the amount was utilized for the food and transportation of teachers-participant and gave P1,000 for honorarium for the speakers and P500 for teachers. She added that the report was revised when they put the honorarium for the speakers amounting to P4,000 when it was disallowed by the DepEd and allegedly advised them to put zero balance.

Abunda alleged that they sought the advice of Cañete.

On the other hand, Barrera claimed that the reimbursement expense receipt they filed in DepEd was in good faith, adding they put in the receipt the alleged rental of projector allegedly upon the advice of Cañete.

However, Prosecutor Camba said the respondents cannot deny the complaint since they were all public officers and had the custody and control of the fund for the seminar they organized.— (FREEMAN)