Ombudsman orders raps filed vs DPWH exec

More than a year after the government’s lifestyle check began, a second public official was charged yesterday before the anti-graft court for allegedly acquiring ill-gotten wealth amounting to millions.

Dismissed Undersecretary Salvador Pleyto of the graft-ridden Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) was indicted before the Sandiganbayan for the alleged accumulation of dubious properties worth P16.6 million in Sta. Maria, Bulacan.

The first government official charged for failing the lifestyle check was DPWH CentralLuzon director Romeo Panganiban, who along with his family and in-laws, was accused of accumulating ill-gotten wealth amounting to P81 million.

A forfeiture suit will also be filed against Pleyto and his entire family for the government to recover what Ombudsman investigators discovered were unlawfully acquired assets in the course of the official’s 37 years in government service.

Pleyto had been placed under preventive suspension by the Ombudsman in September 2003 for six months without pay. This after probers stumbled upon evidence of Pleyto’s undeclared assets in Bulacan.

Ombudsman Simeon Marcelo said Pleyto’s statement of assets and liabilities (SAL) did him in, as it "shows a significant rise in his net worth that cannot be explained or much more justified within the context of his supposedly complete listing of finances, assets and sources of income."

Ombudsman spokesman Ernesto Nocos said Pleyto’s properties which he declared under his wife’s name, Miguela and their children Russel, Mary Grace and Salvador Jr. — were "grossly disproportionate" to his declared income.

Nocos said there was an "unusual increase" in Pleyto’s P5.9 million net worth in 2002, as compared to his P4.5 million declared assets the year before.

Lawyer Nicasio Conti and police director for investigation and detective management Eduardo Matillano of the Transparency Group said Pleyto used members of his family as fronts.

The Transparency Group under the Office of the President is tasked to assist the Presidential Anti-Graft Commission (PAGC) in the lifestyle checks on all President Arroyo’s Cabinet officials and appointees.

"Pleyto’s real properties registered in the name of his children constitute unexplained wealth (as stated under Republic Act 1379 or the law on unexplained wealth) since all of his children have no substantial income to prove that they have legally acquired the same," Nocos said.