Ex-mayor, others face raps in Samar

The Ombudsman on Friday brought multiple criminal charges in the Sandiganbayan against the former mayor of San Sebastian, Samar, and two other former town officials for their alleged failure to remit P6.8 million in insurance premiums of municipal workers from 2008 to 2012.

Indicted on 40 counts of violating Republic Act No. 8291—the law creating the Government Service Insurance System (GSIS)—were ex-Mayor Arnold Abalos, former town treasurer Virginia Uy and former municipal accountant Pepita Mabini.

In its complaint, the Ombudsman said the three failed to turn over to the GSIS the insurance premiums that were automatically deducted from the monthly salaries of municipal employees for 40 months.

It said the contributions were not remitted from April 2008 to December 2009, May to September 2010, February to July 2011, September to December 2011 and January to April 2012.

As of August 2012, the Ombudsman said the municipal government owed a total of P7.6 million to the state-run pension and insurance firm.