Former Angeles, Bacolod mayors slapped with graft raps

Office of the Ombudsman. PHOTO from www.ombudsman.gov.ph

MANILA, Philippines–The former mayors of Angeles City and Bacolod City have been charged separately with graft in the Sandiganbayan for alleged questionable transactions during their tenures.

Former Angeles City Mayor Francis Nepomuceno was slapped with two counts of graft by the Office of the Ombudsman (OMB).

In the first offense, the information said that on June 8, 2010, Nepomuceno executed a deed of donation of the city’s Mitsubishi Adventure vehicle worth P786,000 in favor of Kapanalig Angeles City Inc. (Kapanalig), a nongovernment organization. Charged as coaccused was Kapanalig president Abelardo Pamintuan Jr.

According to the OMB, the two conspired to effect the donation which was “manifestly and grossly disadvantageous to the city, considering its poor financial condition and the requirements of the city for service vehicles at the time.”

The second case, which referred to the same donation, violated the Local Government Code since the donee, Kapanalig, was ineligible to accept the vehicle from the donor, the city government, since the former was not a government agency or instrumentality.

The OMB charged former Bacolod City Mayor Luzviminda Valdez with four counts of graft and four counts of malversation of public funds through falsification of official/public documents for overpayments made to her by the city government totaling P383,323 through reimbursements.

Records showed the overpayments covered four separate transactions made by Valdez, which were supposedly incurred by the city government.

The OMB said that in one such transaction, the accused made it appear that she paid for P80,000 worth of medicines to the Negros Grace Pharmacy II by inserting items not actually purchased and altering the amounts paid in connection with the implementation of the Mobile Health Clinic Program on Jan. 8, 2004.–Cynthia D. Balana