Perdido Lex case: Capitol executive asks Ombuds to reconsider suspension

CEBU, Philippines - Provincial Accountant Marieto Ypil has asked the Office of the Ombudsman Visayas to reconsider the three-month suspension imposed on him for his alleged negligence in the release of government funds to a bogus foundation in 2002.

Ypil denied having committed neglect of duty when he prepared the disbursement vouchers of the P5 million financial assistance granted by the Capitol to Perdido Lex Foundation, Incorporated.

Ypil stood firm that it was not within his authority to verify the foundation’s accreditation as the transaction met the minimum requirements under government audit rules.

He reiterated that the office of then vice governor John Gregory Osmeña should be held liable for it because it was the former vice governor’s office that processed the documents of the bogus foundation.

Aside from Ypil, Osmeña’s former chief of staff Willie Mulla was also found guilty of grave misconduct and was meted the penalty of dismissal from service.

The order however is no longer enforceable because Mulla has long been out of government service.

The case stemmed from newspaper reports in 2004 on the release of P5 million to Perdido Lex by the Provincial Government. The funds were meant to finance a computerization program for youths in Cebu.

It was later discovered that the foundation was non-existent and its incorporators were nowhere to be found—except for one who turned out to be the vice governor’s housekeeper.

In their 34-page decision, anti-graft investigators Sarah Jo Vergara, Euphemia Bacalso and Allan Francisco Garciano absolved then Cebu governor Pablo Garcia, saying his signing of the vouchers was “a ministerial task.”

They also cleared Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia, who was then consultant to her father.

“The release of funds to Perdido, by chronology, marks the culmination of a trail of paperwork and documentation. Otherwise put, the transactions are established by the existence of documents, and Gwendolyn Garcia had no ostensible participation in any of these,” the ombudsman’s office said.(FREEMAN NEWS)