MANILA, Philippines - Ipinag-utos kahapon ng tanggapan ng Ombudsman na kasuhan si Southern Leyte Gov. Damian Mercado matapos mapatunayang guilty sa kasong Falsification of Public Documents sa ilalim ng Article 171 (4) ng Revised Penal Code.
Sa record, si Mercado ay bigong magsumite ng tama at kumpletong detalye ng kanyang Personal Data Sheet (PDS) at Elective Local Official’s Profile Directory (Data Capture Form).
Sa mga naipakita nitong dokumento, si Mercado ay isang civil engineer at nagtapos ng kanyang elementary grades sa Maasin Central School mula 1964 hanggang 1971.
Ayon sa Ombudsman, sa 2010 PDS ni Mercado, bigo itong sabihin ang taon ng siya ay nagtapos mula sa educational institutions na sinasabing nag-aral siya dito.
“Mercado’s failure to fill up the spaces for the year when he graduated (if graduated) constitutes concealment of information in violation of his undertaking in his PDS to state the true, correct and complete statement pursuant to the provisions of pertinent laws, rules and regulations,” ayon sa Ombudsman.
“On the years when he completed his elementary grades and B.S. Civil Engineering, his evasive claim that he could have been mistaken for a civil engineer because he was a contractor, and his incomplete entries in the ELOPD and PDS on those matters all engender the well-founded belief that the governor withheld and concealed the truth and falsified his entries,” dagdag ng Ombudsman.