Central Mindanao accounts for largest number of graft cases in Mindanao

DAVAO CITY, Philippines —Central Mindanao beats other Mindanao regions in the number of officials facing graft charges lodged in the Office of the Ombudsman, according to Deputy Ombudsman for Mindanao Rodolfo Elman.

While Elman did not say how many of the 344 pending graft cases in Mindanao involved officials from the provinces of North and South Cotabato, Sultan Kudarat and Sarangani, and the cities of General Santos, Koronadal, Tacurong and Kidapawan, Elman said they accounted for “most of the cases.”

Mindanao is divided into five regions: Central, Western, Northern and Southern Mindanao; and the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.

He said the complaints against officials ranged from misuse, malversation or technical malversation of public funds.

Initial investigation of charges involving barangay officials showed some of them “had no evil intent to misuse funds,” Elman said, “but they lacked  knowledge of the provisions of the law.” He cited auditing rules and procedures.

He said the Ombudsman was trying to dispose of the cases as fast and as carefully as it could, but the process of verification was a tedious one.

Aside from the 344 graft complaints, the Office of the Ombudsman in Mindanao was also handling 982 other criminal and administrative cases against public officials.

He said 40 of these cases were against heads or officers of the Department of Agrarian Reform; 36 cases against officials of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources; 21 cases against officials of the Land Transportation Office; and 17 cases against Philippine National Police officials.

There are also cases filed against officials of the Department of Education (18); state universities and colleges (14); Bureau of Internal Revenue (13); Department of Agriculture (9); Bureau of Customs (4); Department of the Interior and Local Government (4); Philippine Postal Corporation (5); and  Bureau of Fire (3).

“So you can see that most cases were against those in the local government units,” Elman said.