The Office of the Ombudsman has ordered the dismissal from the service of officials from Mayantoc, Tarlac after they were found administratively liable for Grave Misconduct and Gross Neglect of Duty. Ordered dismissed from the service are Rodolfo Corpuz (former Municipal Engineer), Nilda Salazar (Municipal Treasurer), Tito Razalan (former Municipal Mayor), Florence Bueno (Budget Officer) and Marilene Bedania (Administrative Officer).
Graft probers uncovered irregularities that tainted the P23 million Mayantoc Memorial Park Project undertaken in 2009. Substantial regulations on procurement were not followed by the respondents. These are the lack of a pre-procurement conference; non-posting of the invitation to bid; bid documents were not paid by the bidders despite its announcement that bid documents are available upon payment of P5,000.00; non-invitation of observers to join the procurement activities; and acceptance of underpayment of performance and warranty securities by the winning contractor, JQG Construction.
In its Consolidated Decision, the Ombudsman found that “records show that Corpuz and Razalan facilitated the release of the payment amounting to P23,048,230.15 to JQG Construction by issuing the certificate of project acceptance and certificate of project completion which was found to be incomplete and inoperational.” The Ombudsman also found that Razalan approved and instructed the release of payments to the contractor without securing the certification of the municipal accountant as to the completeness of the supporting documents.
The dismissal order carries the accessory penalties of perpetual disqualification from holding public office, cancellation of eligibility, forfeiture of retirement benefits and bar from taking the civil service examination. In case of separation from the service, the penalty is convertible to a fine equivalent to respondent’s one year salary. ###