By LITO RULONA Correspondent EMBATTLED Mayor Oscar Moreno and three key city hall officials are facing plunder and more cases before the Office of the Ombudsman. Less than 24 hours after Moreno scored a legal victory with the Court of Appeals (CA) stopping the implementation of a suspension order against him for 60 days, a man from Barangay Carmen filed a complaint for plunder against Moreno, city treasurer Glenn Bañez, city accountant Beda Joy Elot and city budget officer Percy Salazar in connection with the issuance of 17 city hall checks, eight of which had the mayor as payee. 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. The complaint was filed by  one Clemente Atoc. Little is known of the complainant except that he is 60 years old and is from Sitio Ilaya in Barangay Carmen. Atoc filed the complaint barely a week after Councilor Leon Gan sought an explanation about the issuance of the 17 checks that allegedly went “missing” in the records. Eight of the checks issued to Moreno amounted to P79 million. In a nine-page complaint, Atoc stated: “Moreno amassed, accumulated or acquired ill-gotten wealth through a combination or series of the following overt or criminal acts: (a) through misappropriation, conversion, misuse or malversation of public funds or raids on the public treasury; (b) by receiving, directly or indirectly, any commission, gift, share, percentage, kickback or any other form of pecuniary benefits from any person and/or entity in connection with any government contract or project or by reason of the office or position of the public officer.” He alleged that Moreno diverted public funds when the checks were issued and encashed amounting to some P79 million, and that Banez, Salazar and Elot, “in cahoots with each other, issued the... checks in favor of Moreno.” Atoc said the checks were issued and encashed but vouchers, payrolls and supporting documents were not submitted in violation of Commission on Audit Circular 2012-005 and Section 7.2 of COA Circular 2009-006. He said an Audit Observation Memorandum (AOM) no. 2016-03-101 (2015) was released on Jan. 28, 2016, and city hall was required on Feb. 18, 2016 to submit the disbursement vouchers, and account for the funds but there was allegedly no answer from the local officials. Atoc also questioned why  Moreno was the payee in eight checks amounting to P79,197,140.59. The dates, numbers of the missing checks with Moreno as the payee, and the corresponding amounts:
  • Jan. 6, 2015, Philippine Postal Service Bank Inc. (PPSBI) check no. 437880, P13 million;
  • Jan. 7, 2015, PPSBI check no. 437881, P11 million;
  • Jan. 8, 2015, Philippine Veterans Bank (PVB) check no. 276448, P12.5 million;
  • Jan. 9, 2015, PVB check no. 276449, P12.5 million;
  • Oct. 7, 2015, Land Bank of the Philippines-Velez (LBP) check no. 1235388, P5 million;
  • Oct. 27, 2015, LBP check no. 1246358, P5 million;
  • Nov. 5, 2015, LBP check no. 1246497, P10 million;
  • Nov. 11, 2015, Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP) check no. 47409977, P10 million.
Atoc said the city council did not pass an ordinance allowing the respondents to disburse the funds. Reads part of the complaint: “In effect, the money used was manipulated by his coespondents under the direction and control of the respondent Mayor Oscar Moreno. “The power of the purse is vested in the local legislative body. By requiring an ordinance, the law gives the Sanggunian the authority to determine whether savings have accrued and to authorize the augmentation of other items on the budget with those savings.” Atoc also asked the ombudsman to order the officials’ preventive suspension.