Newsbriefs

APPEALS COURT CONFIRMS DISMISSAL OF INFORMATION OFFICER

The Court of Appeals (CA) affirmed the dismissal of a former public information officer of the provincial government for dishonesty.

Richard Ramos, who headed the information technology department for four years during the term of former governor Gwendolyn Garcia, was sacked after he made it appear that Garcia signed a document even if she didn’t.

Ramos stamped with “Original Document Signed” the terms of reference of the P38 million computerization program even if Garcia did not sign the document.

He submitted the document with the false notation to the Bids and Awards Committee that was about to hold the bidding for the multi-million project.

The Capitol’s committee on discipline and investigation found him guilty of grave misconduct, a decision upheld by the Civil Service Commission. The appellate court has also affirmed the guilty verdict.

Garcia tasked Ramos to make the Terms of Reference (TOR) for the provincial government’s massive computerization project of all its offices in 2008.

In the middle of July 2008, Ramos showed to Garcia the completed TOR. The document was supposed to be signed by Garcia before this can be used by the BAC in the pre-bidding process.

Ramos claimed that he had it signed by Garcia but every time he did so, the former governor was out of the office and even out of town, including on the day of the bidding process itself.

On August 12, 2008, the pre-bidding conference was made by the BAC using the TOR prepared by Ramos.

The copy of the TOR that was used by the BAC had the notation “Original Document Signed.” The following day, Ramos went to Garcia’s office to have the TOR signed by her.

Garcia inquired about the pre-bidding conference and asked him how many bidders participated in the process. Ramos said there were only two.

This angered Garcia and she ordered Ramos to tell the BAC to cancel the bidding process because she wanted more bidders to participate in the computerization project.

BAC members asked Ramos whether the original copy of the TOR was really signed by Garcia.

He said the original copy of the TOR was not signed yet.

Ramos explained that his act of placing the notation “Original Document Signed” was done in good faith.

In defending himself, Ramos said it was never his intention to put Garcia in a bad light.

He said he stamped the notation “Original Document Signed” because he was pressured by the BAC members. Reporter Ador Vincent Mayol

RECALL OF ID CARDS ‘NOT POLITICALLY MOTIVATED’

A LAPU-LAPU City based officer handling the Pantawid program admitted recalling the identification cards of beneficiaries, but clarified that she wanted to place their addresses on it.

Melissa Remosura, the anti-poverty program coordinator in Lapu-Lapu City, said the ID cards of some recipients in the last four years didn’t bear their addresses.

Some beneficiaries earlier suspected that the recall was linked to the upcoming barangay elections. Remosura said the recipients use their ID cards for other transactions.

She said some companies refuse to honor the ID cards because they don’t bear the actual address of the recipients. Correspondent Norman V. Mendoza