Nueva Vizcaya lawmaker, 6 others face raps

SAN JOSE CITY, Philippines – The National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) has filed graft charges against a congresswoman and six other former and incumbent officials of the Nueva Vizcaya provincial government over the alleged illegal purchase of a luxury car.

Former Nueva Vizcaya governor and now Rep. Luisa Lorren Cuaresma were charged along with provincial accountant Dominador Dacumos, budget officer Alejandra Dacumos, general services officer Nathaniel Turqueza, former provincial administrator Manuel Tabora and former provincial general services officer Tomas Garra.

Florentina Sagabaen, former supervising auditor of the Commission on Audit based in Bayombong, was included in the charge sheet.   

Bensheen Apolinar, chief of the NBI district office, who filed the complaint, said the provincial government purchased a Grand Starex Limousine (SKE-678) for P2.6 million from Pitstop Motors Inc. in 2010 through direct contracting instead of public bidding.

The respondents signed the vouchers, checks, certifications, receipts and other pertinent documents to facilitate the transaction, the complaint stated.

Apolinar said Sagabaen was included in the complaint for allowing the purchase without the necessary documents and failing to make an audit report.

Attached in the complaint is the joint affidavit of lawyers Voltaire Garcia and Efipanio Delbert Galima III and Jeremiah Iam Rivera, a casual employee in Garcia’s office, which showed that there was no request for authority to purchase the vehicle from the Secretary of the Department of the Interior and Local Government.