Gov facing graft case blames black prop

CEBU CITY—Tagbilaran City Mayor Dan Neri Lim has filed a graft complaint against Bohol Gov. Edgar Chatto for alleged anomalies in the distribution of livelihood technology kits when Chatto was congressman of Bohol’s first district in 2010.

But Chatto denied any irregularity, saying the charges were part of political black propaganda and is a demolition job by Lim and his cohorts.

In a complaint filed in the office of Deputy Ombudsman for Visayas Pelagio Apostol on

Feb. 24, Lim claimed that 23 dead persons were among the 1,343 beneficiaries who signed and received the kits during the distribution in January 2010.

Lim said he has the death certificates of 11 beneficiaries in Maribojoc town, three in Corella, four in Cortez, three in Baclayon and two in Dauis.

Lim said the anomalies were exposed when the Commission on Audit (COA) conducted a special audit last year on the use of pork barrel funds for 2007-2009 in Bohol.

In a statement sent through e-mail, Chatto said he didn’t receive any notice from the Ombudsman about the charges.

Chatto said Lim had no basis to conclude any wrongdoing since the audit on the project was still ongoing.

“We conducted an inquiry on this matter when our political critics orchestrated the same to cast doubt on my integrity as a public official,” Chatto said.

Lim “is taking out of context an otherwise regular audit procedure of COA,” the governor said.

“We are always supporting COA in all its audit processes,”  Chatto said.

Lim, in a press release attributed to him, claimed Chatto violated the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Law and Ethical Standards Law, misused public funds and falsified public documents for the livelihood technology kits.

The kits contained information materials on livelihood opportunities like farming and raising animals.

Although Lim was apparently in the dark on how much the project cost, he said the kits were developed by the National Livelihood Development Corp., a state-owned company under the Land Bank of the Philippines.

The kits were for distribution to rural people in least developed provinces to promote microfinance projects.

Chatto, then representative of Bohol’s first district composed of 14 towns, used his pork barrel fund to finance the projects.

Congressmen enjoy tens of millions of pesos in pork barrel funds for their pet projects which are often tainted with graft and reports of kickbacks. No attempt by any President has been made, however, to stop the practice of allotting pork funds for congressmen. With a report from Jhunnex Napallacan, Inquirer Visayas