3 Hagonoy, Bulacan barangay officials face raps over alleged cash aid distribution anomalies

The National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) said Thursday it has filed graft and corruption complaints against three barangay officials in Hagonoy, Bulacan over alleged anomalies in the distribution of emergency cash aid during the COVID-19 crisis.

Barangay chairman Jason Mendoza, executive assistant Richard "Boy" Bautista, and kagawad Danilo Flores of Barangay San Agustin, as well as private individuals former kagawad Levi Cosay and Bautista's wife, Regine, were named in the complaint filed before the Department of Justice in Manila, the NBI said.

The bureau said three complainants alleged that Flores, accompanied by a certain Michael Perez, demanded from them P4,000 out of the P6,500 they received from the government's social amelioration program last April 27.

Flores allegedly claimed that P3,500 will be given to Hagonoy Municipal Mayor Raulito Manlapaz, Sr. and the remaining P500 to frontliners in the municipality.

"Against their will, complainants gave back to subject Flores the amount of P4,000," the NBI said, adding that further investigation showed Flores threatened the complainants that they would be delisted as beneficiaries of subsequent relief programs if they refused.

The NBI said witnesses claimed that Flores collected P117,000 and turned the amount over to the Bautista couple. The bureau said the witnesses believed that Richard, being the executive assistant, "could not have acted on his own without the imprimatur of his boss, incumbent Chairman Mendoza."

NBI Director Eric Distor urged the public to report to the bureau any local government official who fails to comply with the Bayanihan to Heal as One Act, the law providing for the emergency subsidy program.

The police have also filed complaints against a barangay chairperson and a municipal social welfare officer in Negros Occidental over alleged cash aid distribution irregularities. In that case, a barangay chairwoman allegedly gave financial assistance to her grandchild and her niece who were unqualified for the program. —AOL, GMA News