PLM execs charged with graft

MANILA, Philippines - Three ranking officials of the Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Maynila (PLM) are now facing graft charges with the Office of the Ombudsman for allegedly ordering the removal of the university’s president following a reported secret meeting two months ago.

Board chairman Amado Valdez and board of regents (BOR) members Adelaida Rodriguez-Magsaysay, Corazon Rubio, and Estrellita Bautista are also being accused of committing serious dishonesty, grave misconduct, oppression, and violation of Republic Act 6713 or the Code of Conduct and Ethical Standards for Public Officials and Employees.

The faculty association, administration, employees, and the school’s supreme student council said they filed the criminal and administrative complaints because of the respondents’ act of holding a clandestine and illegal meeting on July 8.

Allegedly, the PLM officials voted to recall and withdraw the election of former Justice Artemio Tuquero last July 2, 2013 as president of the university, based on the unresolved issue that the latter needs to be appointed to the position by Mayor Joseph Estrada.

The complainants, in a 10-page charge sheet received by the Office of the Ombudsman on July 23, said the special meeting was held without BOR members Renato de la Cruz, Ramon Bagatsing and Tuquero himself.

“The manner by which the meeting was conducted therefore is highly irregular, if not illegal, and in blatant violation of established procedure for the holding of board meetings under the University Code,” the graft complaint stated.

Allegedly under the rules, special meetings may be called provided that members are properly notified in advance – which means that the respondents acted in bad faith.

The complainants said Tuquero’s removal from his position as president was done through a “hastily constituted board resolution” which was “a product of a hastily convened meeting… without due notice to all its members.”

The graft and administrative charges asked Ombudsman Conchita Carpio-Morales to preventively suspend the respondents while the anti-graft agency conducts its investigation.

In a statement issued yesterday, Eloisa Macalinao, dean of the College of Accountancy and Economics and president of the PLM Faculty Association, said the substance of the complaints revolve around the fact that the PLM community suffered a severe setback and confusion when Valdez “improperly tried to wrest power in the administration of PLM.”