[av_one_full first min_height=” vertical_alignment=” space=” custom_margin=” margin=’0px’ padding=’0px’ border=” border_color=” radius=’0px’ background_color=” src=” background_position=’top left’ background_repeat=’no-repeat’ animation=”]
[av_heading heading=’Capitol case reaches Duterte hotline 8888′ tag=’h3′ style=’blockquote modern-quote’ size=” subheading_active=’subheading_below’ subheading_size=’15’ padding=’10’ color=” custom_font=”]
BY GLENDA SOLOGASTOA
[/av_heading]
[av_textblock size=” font_color=” color=”]
ILOILO City – A case being handled by the Provincial Legal Office was complained to 8888, the newly unveiled complaints hotline of the Duterte administration.
The case was about the province’s Rice Development Program coordinator Carmelo Oren. He was complained of alleged irregularities.
“I think the concern is that it took the legal office’s intervention to resolve the case,” said Provincial Administrator Raul Banias who was informed about the 888 complaint yesterday morning.
Banias said the case was actually handled by the team from the legal office.
But he said, “Kadamo sang kaso ang aton legal office nga indi ta madali-dali ma-resolve.”
Banias vowed to follow up the status of the case with Atty. Ethel Sanson of the Provincial Legal Office, the one in charge of the case.
Provincial Agriculturist Ildefonso Toledo and Oren was investigated for simple neglect of duty and grave misconduct, respectively.
The fact-finding committee of Atty. Suzette Mamon discovered that Toledo and Oren failed to account for the sacks of rice seeds and fertilizers for distribution to farmers.
The committee noted discrepancies in the Provincial Agriculture Office’s records, specifically on the number of rice and fertilizer bags purchased and those distributed to farmers.
According to Mamon, this failure to account constituted administrative liability.
Toledo had insisted there were no irregularities. In a previous interview, he said rice seeds and fertilizers reached their intended farmer-beneficiaries. But he admitted there may be errors in the documentation.
Oren also denied any irregularity in the Rice Development Program.
The alleged unaccounted 30 sacks of fertilizers – out of the 150 total bags procured in 2011 worth P219,300 – were used in the Rice Demonstration Farm Art Center in Barangay Nanga, Pototan town, Oren claimed.
The capitol-run farm was a “model” in integrated farming./PN
[/av_textblock]
[/av_one_full]
