Ombudsman orders dismissal of Zambo Sibugay clerk over missing P200K

Ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez on Tuesday ordered the dismissal of a revenue collection clerk in Zamboanga Sibugay who admitted to using more than P200,000 from his office for personal use. Menardo Basalan, Revenue Collection Clerk III of Siay town, was dismissed over charges of Grave Misconduct, Serious Dishonesty, and Grave Neglect of Duty. The charges stemmed from an accumulated cash shortage of P213,619.69, which the Commission on Audit discovered on December 3, 2004. In his affidavit, Basalan admitted using the missing amount for his family because his "income could not sustain the needs of his family, including the medical expenses of his child." Despite the circumstances the clerk mentioned, the Ombudsman still decided to dismiss him. "While this Office commiserates with the plight of respondent and his family, we cannot countenance respondent’s acts that led to enormous loss in the coffers of government," the Ombudsman said in her resolution. She added: "Respondent might have committed the infraction with the intention of alleviating the needs of his family, still, respondent’s explanation with regard to the occurrence of his cash shortage cannot exempt him from any administrative liability." Estafa case Meanwhile, the Office of the Ombudsman also on Tuesday affirmed its earlier order to file charges of estafa against Ligaya Manansala and Estrella Paldeng. Manansala is a Local Assessment Officer III of the Provincial Assessor’s Office, while Paldeng is a Revenue District Officer I of the Bureau of Internal Revenue, both from San Fernando City in Pampanga in Central Luzon. The two were charged by Teresita Lacanlale with estafa under Par. 2(a) of Article 315 of the Revised Penal Code. In her account, Lacanlale said she approached Manansala on August 6, 2006, for the titling of her lot and paid her P25,000. Manansala reportedly told Lacanlale that a Transfer Certificate of Title (TCT) will be available in three weeks. The promised date elapsed without a TCT being issued to Lacanlale. To assure the complainant that her request was already being process, Manansala brought Lacanlale to Paldeng to prove that the documents have already been submitted to the BIR. On April 24, 2007, Lacanlale – still without a TCT – made a followup on her request with Manansala and demanded that her P25,000 and other supporting documents be returned to her the next day. Both Manansala and Paldeng failed to return the money and the land documents. In a resolution, the Ombudsman stressed that Manansala "deceived" Lacanlale into believing that she was authorized to facilitate land titling procedures. “By falsely pretending to possess power, influence or qualifications, there exist the elements of deceit and damage... [I]n truth and in fact she does not have the power, influence, or qualifications to do so," the Ombudsman said in the resolution. As for Paldeng, the Ombudsman said her failure to "controvert" her alleged role in the crime showed that she could have conspired with Manansala. "The insinuation of complainant Teresita L. Lacanlale that she (Paldeng) works together with respondent Ligaya Manansala in facilitating the titling of her lot, bring about the probability that these respondents (Manansala and Paldeng) were in conspiracy with each other," the resolution read. — Mark Merueñas/LBG/KBK, GMA News