The Department of Finance (DOF) has dismissed from service for grave misconduct a municipal treasurer from Guimbal, Iloilo, for her involvement in the P728-million fertilizer-fund scam. The DOF acted on orders of the Office of the Ombudsman.
Finance Secretary Carlos G. Dominguez III also ordered the temporary suspension of three other officials and employees under DOF supervision, based on separate orders by the Office of the Ombudsman and the Civil Service Commission (CSC).
Dismissed from the service was Ma. Asuncion Isabel Gargalicano, the municipal treasurer of Guimbal, Iloilo, in 2004 for acting in complicity with then-Mayor Oscar Garin Jr. and other municipal employees in the anomalous procurement of P3 million worth of Bionature liquid organic fertilizers from Feshan Philippines Inc.
According to the Ombudsman, the municipal government intentionally shortened the procurement process to skip the public bidding for the fertilizers and ensure that Feshan bagged the P3-million contract.
The Ombudsman also found that Feshan’s liquid fertilizer was grossly overpriced at P1,500 per bottle, as a similar product can be procured at only P120 per bottle.
Gargalicano was meted the accessory penalties of cancellation of eligibility, forfeiture of
retirement benefits, except for accrued leave credits, and perpetual disqualification for reemployment in government service.
According to the Office of the Ombudsman, in the event that the penalty of dismissal from the service was no longer applicable, Gargalicano would instead be penalized with a fine equivalent to her one-year salary.
Meanwhile, Onofre Natividad, the municipal treasurer of South Upi in Maguindanao, was ordered suspended for three months and one day without pay for simple neglect of duty.
The Ombudsman ruled that he was partly responsible for the failure of the municipal government to remit the contributions of its employees to the Home Development Mutual Fund and the Government Service Insurance System and taxes withheld on compensation to the Bureau of Internal Revenue from January to December 2007.
In a separate ruling, the CSC found Jacinto Villaviray, Security Guard II of the Bureau of Customs, liable for failure to file his statement of assets and liabilities and networth with disclosure of business interests and financial connections for the year 2014.
Villaviray was penalized with three months suspension without pay with the accessory penalty of disqualification from promotion during the period of suspension.