Luistro dismisses 3 Region 9 execs

PAGADIAN CITY, Zamboanga del Sur, Philippines – Education Secretary Armin Luistro has dismissed from the service three ranking officials of the Department of Education (DepEd) in Region 9 here after an administrative investigation found them guilty of grave offenses.

DepEd Undersecretary for Legal and Legislative Affairs Alberto Muyot made the recommendation against the three officials – a former regional director, a chief accountant III and a cashier III – in a resolution.

The two latter officials appealed their dismissal but Muyot denied their motion for reconsideration for lack of merit.

The DepEd central office took cognizance of the cases against the three officials after receiving a letter of information/complaint from Elizabeth Tatel, chief of the DepEd-Region 9 budget and finance division.

According to Tatel, the cases of the three officials stemmed from the Belgium government-donated fund of  P12,511,779.19 that they transferred from an ATM account to the account of the Belgian Integrated Agrarian Reform Support Program (BIARSP) which the DepEd regional office implemented in 2000 and terminated in 2003.

Tatel, however, noted that the BIARSP bank account was supposedly closed only on Aug. 24, 2007 or four years after the program’s conclusion.

Tatel said her complaint was not personally motivated but was part of her mandated duty to safeguard government funds, protect the regional office’s integrity and warn other personnel from committing similar fund anomalies in the future.

In his resolution, Muyot said that after an appropriate inquiry, his office found the three officials guilty of “grave misconduct and conduct gravely prejudicial to the interest of the service” and were meted the penalty of dismissal from the service.

Muyot also recommended the forfeiture of the retirement benefits, except accrued leave credits, of the three erring DepEd officials, and the cancellation of their civil service eligibility, and their perpetual disqualification from re-employment in the government.