Water body’s trustee files motion to stop his suspension

BACOLOD CITY—A trustee of the Local Water Utilities Administration who was suspended Friday filed a motion for reconsideration before the Office of the President yesterday.
Bonifacio Mario Peña, a LWUA trustee who hails from Negros Occidental, was suspended for 90 days along with two other trustees, Susana Dumlao Vargas and Renato Velasco, through an order issued Friday by Executive Secretary Paquito Ochoa Jr., based on the complaint filed by Finance Secretary Cesar Purisima with the Office of the President on April 6.
In his motion for reconsideration, Peña said he was filing it to clear his name and regain the high regard that his family and friends have for him.
He said the filing of the motion was not an attempt to hold on to his position as trustee since his tenure would expire on June 25 of this year, according to Anthony Rustia, Peña’s executive assistant.
Peña disclosed in his motion that the charge against him was for “alleged grave misconduct arising from their direct and willful participation in facilitating the highly irregular and anomalous take-over and the acquisition of shares of stock of Express Savings Bank Inc. resulting in the dissipation and misappropriation of public funds in the amount of P480 million.”
But Peña denied the charges since the acquisition and takeover of the bank was already done and consummated in 2009. /INQUIRER