MANILA, Philippines — Maria Luisa Loot, the former mayor of Daanbantayan in northern Cebu and a former municipal councilor are in hot water over the alleged anomalous implementation of a livelihood project in 2007 worth P500,000.
In a decision recently signed by Ombudsman Conchita Carpio Morales, Loot and former Councilor Samuel Moralde were ordered charged before the Sandiganbayan with malversation of public funds under the Revised Penal Code and violation of Republic Act 3019 or the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act.
Based on the ombudsman’s field investigation, the municipal government of Daanbantayan entered into a memorandum of agreement with RBA Quail Raisers Association on Feb. 28, 2007.
Under the MOA, the municipal government will extend a P500,000-loan to RBA for a quail raising project.
The ombudsman’s records show that Moralde was the chairman of RBA at the time.
The ombudsman said the MOA was entered into without the required approval of the Sangguniang Bayan or municipal council.
Graft probers further said Loot and Moralde failed to comply with the conditions in the MOA such as the periodic monitoring and evaluation to ascertain the progress and accomplishment of the projects.
The ombudsman said it cannot be ascertained whether the project was really implemented as there was “no record of any transaction” related to the project's implementation submitted by the respondents as evidence.
The ombudsman said the loan remains unpaid up to date.
The anti-graft agency dismissed Moralde's claim that the devastation caused by Typhoon Frank in June 2008 forced the RBA to seek condonation of the loan and that the RBA's documents regarding the implementation of the project were destroyed by Typhoon Yolanda in November 2013.
“Nothing in the records show the existence of any request for condonation or any action taken by the SB on the request. Even so, the fact remains that prior and after the typhoon, respondent Loot failed to conduct monitoring and evaluation to ascertain the progress of the project and proper utilization of the funds,” the ombudsman said in its ruling.
Loot is the wife of the incumbent Daanbantayan Mayor Vicente Loot, a retired police chief superintendent who was tagged by President Rodrigo Duterte last year as among the police generals protecting big-time drug lords.
Mayor Vicente had repeatedly denied the allegation.