Ex-Bacolod solon indicted over SEA Games funds mess
Monico Puentevella. FILE PHOTO
(Updated, 3:29 p.m.) Former Bacolod congressman Monico Puentevella was indicted by the Ombudsman for malversation and graft for allegedly receiving in his personal account funds for the 2005 South East Asian (SEA) games.
In a statement on Tuesday, Ombudsman Conchita Carpio Morales said she has indicted Puentevella for malversation of public funds and violation of Section 3(e) of the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act for allegedly failing to account for P21,565,832.50 spent for the 2005 South East Asian Games which was partly hosted by Bacolod City.
According to the Ombudsman, the Department of Budget and Management in 2005 issued a P50-million Special Allotment Release Order for the Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) to host the 23rd SEA Games.
The sports commission then transferred the fund to the Bacolod South East Asian Games Organizing Committee (BASOC) through checks payable to BASOC and Puentevella.
The Commission on Audit (COA) then sent letters to BASOC and Puentevella from 2008 to 2009 to settle the fund.
But as of 2011, P21,565,832.50 remained unsettled, and that the fund was deposited to the personal account of Puentevella, the Ombudsman investigation showed.
“By depositing the funds in [Puentevella’s] personal account, he had absolute custody and control of and responsibility for the funds,” Morales said
“Respondent’s failure to liquidate or account for the amount of PhP21,565,832.50 which was under his custody and control, despite demands and the lapse of several years from the time the liquidation was due, would necessarily lead to the conclusion that he had used the funds for his personal benefit,” she added.
Morales said the documents for the unliquidated amount were not approved by the COA and the PSC, especially because these consisted of Puentevella’s personal vouchers which were mere photocopies of invoices or contracts.
The COA-PSC demanded Puentevella to liquidate the money in 2009 but the congressman failed to comply, the Ombudsman said. IDL
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