Filtered By: Topstories
News

No reimbursements for 6 of 8 'Euro generals'


MANILA, Philippines - The Philippine National Police (PNP) on Tuesday said it will no longer return the money surrendered to them by six of the eight police officers who attended an Interpol Assembly in Russia late last year. PNP comptroller Roel Hilomen during a press conference noted that the six police officers – including controversial former comptroller Eliseo dela Paz – had either already retired or would be retiring in a few months when they made the trip in October 2008. Under current PNP policy, the government would only shoulder per diem and plane fare expenses of its police officials as long as they have not yet retired or are not scheduled to retire within one year. If a police official that either has already retired or is retiring in one year makes an official business, he would have to shell out his own money during the entire stretch of the trip. Aside from Dela Paz, four other companions in the Moscow trip –former deputy director generals Emmanuel Carta and Ismael Rafanan, and former directors Romeo Ricardo and Jaime Caringal – are all retired members of the PNP. A sixth “Euro general" – police community relations director German Doria – will also not be receiving a reimbursement because he is set to leave police service in July, or nine months after the Moscow trip. Each “Euro general" was given a cash advance of P274,070 for the Moscow trip. However, since the controversy erupted, the PNP asked the contingent to return their travel allowances, and await the auditing of the trip’s official receipts before the amounts are reimbursed. But as it turned out, only two officers - Senior Superintendent Elmer Pelobello, the contingent’s designated aide, and Director for Operations Silverio Alarcio Jr. – ended up enjoying reimbursements. Earlier, Hilomen also said that despite the payment of the balance of the P6.9 million seized in Russia, Dela Paz is still not yet off the hook and would still not receive his retirement benefits, pending the results of the investigation of the Office of the Ombudsman regarding the matter. Dela Paz was forced to look for other sources of money – exactly 65,000 euros or almost P4.5 million - just to dodge impending civil charges that would have been filed against him had he failed to complete the payment by Monday. - GMANews.TV
LOADING CONTENT