Graft complaint filed vs Eastern Samar gov

MANILA, Philippines - Eleven employees of the Eastern Samar provincial government have filed graft charges against their governor, Conrado Nicart Jr., for allegedly refusing to pay their salaries.

In a joint complaint filed with the Office of the Ombudsman, the employees alleged that Nicart has been refusing to pay their salaries, allowances and other benefits since they assumed their jobs in June 2010 despite an order from the Civil Service Commission (CSC).

They said the CSC issued the order on April 2 this year, but that their governor has opted to disobey it.

“On several occasions, we requested and even begged for payment of our salaries, emoluments and all other benefits due us, but respondent simply refused and failed to do so,” they said.

They said their governor’s refusal to pay them their salaries is “slowly asphyxiating us and our families since we derive our income from our employment.”

“Our children are of school age. We are forced to resort to borrowing from friends and relatives at a premium. This is so in spite of our diligent efforts, to the point of literally begging and humbly pleading to respondent and exhausting all available remedies,” they added.

The 11 employees charged Nicart with oppression, gross neglect of duty, grave misconduct, doing acts prejudicial to the best interest of public service, failure to comply with a lawful CSC order, and violating the anti-graft law.

They asked the Office of the Ombudsman to preventively suspend their governor to prevent him from harassing them while it is investigating their complaint.

The complainants are Rolando Apita, a sanitation inspector; Christine Bagas, a statistician; Jihan Baldelobar, a farm worker; Antonette Balena, also a sanitation inspector; Reynaldo Busa, a maintenance worker; Marichu Catudio, a utility employee; Jerry Joseph Mengote, a laborer; Joseph Erroba, a maintenance man; Vivian Lavado, a messenger; Francisco Garol, a laborer; and Michael Lovejoy Mondonedo, a watchman.