THE Office of the Ombudsman Visayas Regional Office Western Visayas has cleared Cherryl Aguirre, former officer-in-charge accountant and now assistant department of the Municipal Planning Office of Valladolid, Negros Occidental, from the criminal and administrative complaints filed against her.
Aguirre, who has been charged for violation of Republic Act 3019 or Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act, and for falsification of public documents, welcome the ruling that vindicated her.
Ombudsman Conchita Carpio-Morales and Graft Investigation and Prosecution Officer I Gian Carla Hernal signed the decision granting Aguirre’s motion for reconsideration and at the same time the dismissing the complaints filed against her in the order dated March 30, 2017.
Aguirre, in her legal argument, averred that she was impleaded as a respondent in the instant case based on the wrongful assumption that she was a member of the Bids and Awards Committee (BAC) at the time when the subject procurement was made in relation to the repair of mechanical dryers and purchase of palay seeds.
To disprove this allegation, she referred to the price quotation dated March 2, 2009 wherein her name was not included in the list of BAC members who approved the quotation.
Aguirre further explained that at the time of the questioned transaction, she was appointed as OIC Municipal Accountant and was prohibited from being a regular member of the BAC pursuant to Commission on Audit (COA) Circular No. 2003-004.
The Ombudsman order stated, “There is no direct evidence showing that Aguirre was a BAC member at the time when the subject procurement was made. The records only show that she signed the disbursement voucher as OIC-Municipal Accountant. Therefore, her participation in awarding the contract to Franmar was not established, thus the motion for reconsideration dated March 3, 2017 she filed was granted and the charge for grave misconduct against her is ordered dismissed.”
