N. Vizcaya treasurer, other provincial execs charged over bonuses

BAYOMBONG, Nueva Vizcaya — Several provincial officials, led by the provincial treasurer, are facing criminal charges for allegedly appropriating additional cash bonuses for themselves last year.

Among those charged with qualified theft in the Ombudsman for Northern Luzon are Perfecto Martinez Jr., provincial treasurer; Thomas Garra, provincial general services officer; Jose Naui, provincial engineer; Virgilio Mapalad, provincial auditor; Ma. Carla Lucia Torralba, human resource and management officer; Miguel Jubay Jr., provincial planning and development officer; Alejandra Dacumos, provincial budget officer, and her husband, Dominador Dacumos, provincial accountant.

The respondents are members of the provincial bids and awards committee and finance committee.

Aside from them, 20 other provincial employees were also included in the criminal complaint for allegedly receiving unauthorized bonuses.

Jubay dismissed the complaint as baseless. Mapalad, for his part, returned the additional cash bonus that he had received as proven by an official receipt dated last February.

Board member Patricio Dumlao Jr., who filed the complaint, said the respondents appropriated for themselves P5,000 to P10,000 each as extra bonus.

Dumlao said this violated an appropriation ordinance which only allowed a P5,000 cash gift and P25,000 in economic relief assistance for each provincial official and employee as part of last year’s yearend bonus.

"Without any legal basis, the respondents initiated and schemed a strategy by which they arrogated unto themselves the power of giving themselves (an extra) bonus of P10,000 each. This is not only illegal but also highly immoral," Dumlao said in his complaint.

Dumlao’s co-complainants were provincial board members Flaviano Balgos and Reina Nita Tidang.