The Office of the Ombudsman has found Sangguniang Panlungsod (SP) members Francisco Calalay, Jr. (now Representative) and Roderick Paulate guilty of Falsification of Officials Documents, Serious Dishonesty, Conduct Prejudicial to the Best Interest of the Service and Grave Misconduct and were ordered dismissed from the service. However, due to the end of their term in 2013, the alternative penalty of a fine equivalent to their one year salary was imposed upon the city councilors.
They were also ordered perpetually disqualified from holding public office with cancellation of eligibility and forfeiture of retirement benefits. Also found guilty are their staff, Flordeliza Alvarez and Vicente Bajamunde.
Investigation uncovered that in 2010, Calalay and Paulate authorized the hiring of 60 job order personnel with salaries ranging from P5,000.00 to P10,000.00 per month. The contractual employees were hired as field inspectors, district coordinators and office aides.
Records show that Calalay and Paulate only submitted indorsement letters and Personal Data Sheets to hire the personnel and applicants were not required to submit birth or NBI records. The SP Councilors designated Alvarez and Bajamunde as liaison officers, authorized to receive the job contractors’ salaries. At the end of each month, Calalay and Paulate would issue certifications that the job contractors rendered actual service.
As defense, respondents said that they “relied on the endorsement of their staff and coordinators” as “(they) did not have enough time to interview applicants.”
In its Decision, the Ombudsman found that “Alvarez and Bajamunde were the ones who claimed the processed payrolls from the disbursing officer to have them signed by the supposed listed job contractors, returned the signed payrolls to the disbursing officer, and collected the full amount.”
“They, however, failed to satisfactorily explain why each job contractor had different signatures appearing in the subject payrolls,” noted the Decision.
According to Ombudsman Conchita Carpio Morales, “the falsified payrolls would not have been realized were it not for the principal participation of their superiors Calalay and Paulate as Quezon City Councilors.”
She highlighted that, “barangay officials attested that the names and addresses indicated in the list of job order personnel are non-existent.”
The Ombudsman added that “Calalay and Paulate took advantage of their official positions as City Councilors” as their actions “lead to no other conclusion but that they actually caused the hiring of ghost employees in their offices.” ###