Gan denies hand in plunder case vs Oca

By LITO RULONA,
Correspondent

THE CITY councilor who “exposed” the 17 missing checks in City Hall’s records has denied having a hand in the plunder case filed against the city mayor and three other department heads.

“I was not consulted when they filed the plunder case against City Mayor Oscar Moreno,” city councilor Leon Gan said.

This was the pronouncement by Gan after getting the copy of the complaint filed by a certain Clemente Atoc before the Office of the Ombudsman last week.

Atoc filed the complaint barely a week after Gan sought an explanation about the issuance of the 17 checks that allegedly went “missing” in the records.

“Ako daw iyang gihimo nga legal counsel tungod kay ako daw ang nag-expose. Ako pud daw ang mahibalo sa kaso. We did not even talk formally. The lawyer and his client should first conduct a one-on-one talk before the filing of the case,” he said.

He said he is not convinced that there will be a sufficient evidence that could pin Moreno and three other department heads on his call for an investigation.

Gan who reviewed the verified complaint filed by Atoc told Gold Star Daily that the complaint filed is weak and would probably be dismissed by the Ombudsman.

“First, I was not aware that there was a case filed by Atoc in relation to the alleged P79-million missing checks. In fact, at that time that they filed the case I was out of town. Nobody consulted me that there will be a case to be filed,” he said.

The 60-year old Atoc from Sitio Ilaya Barangay Carmen has named Gan as his legal counsel.

But Gan said Atoc visited his office after he made a privilege speech before the city council on August 1 and tasked the finance committee to look into city hall’s issuance of 17 checks. Eight of the checks, amounting to P79 million, had Mayor Oscar Moreno as the payee.

Gan demanded for an explanation, citing a COA regional office sent a June 14 letter to Moreno which pointed out that 17 checks were missing, and not recorded in the city government’s book of accounts.

“Abi gani ko og si William Guialani ang nag-file lahi man diay. Ang akong initial nga reaction sa case is premature kay we have no idea on how the funds were used by the city mayor,” he said.

He said he made a privilege speech to enable the city council’s committee on finance to conduct an immediate investigation on why the checks name the mayor as payee.

“What if diay gibayad to sa insakto and then file a case without knowing the facts pending the investigation of the city council,” he pointed out.

Atoc filed plunder case against Moreno, city treasurer Glenn Bañez, city accountant Beda Joy Elot and city budget officer Percy Salazar in connection with the issuance of the 17 city hall checks.

They were also accused of technical malversation, violation of the provisions of RA 7160 and RA 6713, grave misconduct, grave abuse of authority and manifest partiality.