Ex-SK prexy cleared from graft raps

CEBU, Philippines - An anti-graft office has cleared a former Sangguniang Kabataan Federation (SKF) official from her alleged failure to liquidate a cash advance.

There was no basis for the complaint filed against Aisha Iryll Quintana, a former SKF president of Argao town in southern Cebu, said graft investigator and prosecution officer III Luanne Ivy Cabatingan of the Office of the Ombudsman-Visayas.

"Considering the lack of evidence to establish that respondent had indeed received a P120,000 cash advance on an unspecified date which she was accountable for and should have duly liquidated, there can be no probable cause to indict her," read the resolution that dismissed the complaint.

It was the Field Investigation Office (FIO) of the Ombudsman that filed the complaint against Quintana.

In its complaint, the FIO alleged that Quintana had unliquidated cash advance of P120,000 as of September 7, 2015, according to the books of the municipality of Argao as certified by municipal accountant Deodora Carillo.

Carillo, however, alleged that the documents supporting the cash advance had been damaged after their accounting office was flooded sometime in 2007.

FIO said under Commission on Audit Circular No. 97-002, a cash advance should be liquidated as soon as the purpose for which it was given had been served.

Quintana denied the allegation filed against her. She stressed there was no evidence that would prove that she received the said amount.

“There was even no showing when the purported cash advance was made. The certifications made by the municipal accountant could not establish the elements of the offense charged, much less probable cause to indict respondent for the same,” she said.

This led Cabatingan to dismiss the complaint. She ruled there was no evidence on record that Quintana indeed received the amount.

"Not only is there lack of evidence to establish the existence of the cash advance and its purported unliquidated nature, even the date of the cash advance has not been established,” read the resolution. —/JMD (FREEMAN)