THE Office of the Ombudsman indicted former Negros Occidental representative Herminio Teves of graft and malversation over an alleged "ghost project" worth P10-million.
The Ombudsman has found probable cause to file one count of violation of Section 3(e) of the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act (Republic Act 3019) and one count of Malversation of Public Funds against Teves.
Also ordered charged were Teves' chief of staff, Hiram Pulido, and Technology and Livelihood Resource Center (TLRC) representatives Antonio Ortiz, Dennis Cunanan, Marivic Jover, Belina Concepcion and Francisco Figura.
The copies of the resolution were furnished to the Anti-Money Laundering Council for possible violations of the Anti-Money Laundering Act.
An extensive probe conducted by Ombudsman investigators uncovered documents showing that the former lawmaker's P10 million Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) in 2007, originally intended for livelihood projects for the depressed barangays in the third district of Negros Oriental was instead used to fund Teves' "ghost projects".
In December 2006, the Teves requested the release of his 4th tranche of PDAF allocations and selected the TLRC as implementing agency and the Molugan Foundation Inc., as conduit non-government organization (NGO).
It was later determined that the Molugan Foundation did not have the capacity to implement the project as it was incorporated only in 2007, the year it was tasked to implement the PDAF project.
Ombudsman field investigators also found that no public bidding was conducted and that the NGO's place of incorporation and the whereabouts of its incorporators both yielded negative results.
Despite being a ghost project, respondents facilitated the approval of the disbursement voucher and check for the NGO in a single day.
The COA Special Audits Office Report and Notice of Disallowance disclosed that the projects supposedly funded by Teves' PDAF were ghost or inexistent as there were no documents of its implementation or actual fund utilization.
In defense, Teves claimed that "his signatures appearing in various documents linking him to the transactions are products of forgery."
However, the Ombudsman junked this defense and said, "forgery is not presumed; it must be proved by clear, positive and convincing evidence and the burden of proof lies on the party alleging forgery as mere variance of the signatures in different documents cannot be considered as conclusive proof that one is forged."
"Certainly, this illegal conversion and transfer of public funds to the Molugan Foundation, purportedly for projects which did not actually exist, represent quantifiable pecuniary losses to the government constituting undue injury within the context of Section 3(e) of R.A. No. 3019," said Ombudsman Conchita Carpio Morales.
In a related administrative case, Pulido was found guilty of grave misconduct and conduct prejudicial to the best interest of the service.
The Ombudsman ordered his dismissal from service with the accessory penalties of perpetual disqualification from holding public office, forfeiture of retirement benefits and cancellation of eligibility. (VoxPop Philippines)