Raps filed vs. four CabSec officials

An anti-corruption watchdog has filed three complaints with the Office of the Ombudsman against four senior officials under the Office of the Cabinet Secretary.

In a news release issued Monday, the Anti-Trapo Movement of the Philippines (ATM) filed graft, falsification, and usurpation of authority charges against Executive Director Gloria Jumamil-Mercado for her alleged irregular, excessive and unsupported expenditures as vice-president of the Development Academy of the Philippines-Graduate School of Public Development Management in 2012.

ATM chairman Leon Peralta claimed that since her appointment as executive director, Jumamil-Mercado has already gone through several unauthorized trips abroad which, he said, were not part of her office’s function.

“As it now appears from recent postings of Dr. Mercado in her Facebook page, her recent trip to the United States appears to be more of personal and family related, more than that of a government business,” Peralta said.

ATM filed a second complaint against Executive Assistant Aaron James Veloso and Performance and Project Management Office Director Ranulfo Sevilla.

The group accused Veloso of appointing himself Acting Cabinet Secretary during Cabinet Secretary Leoncio Evasco Jr.’s trip with President Rodrigo Duterte to Vietnam from September 28 – 30, 2016, when in fact he was only appointed officer-in-charge by the Office of the Executive Secretary.

The group noted that only the President can temporarily designate an officer already in government office for any function in the executive branch.

Sevilla was charged for violating Section 6 of Executive Order No. 41, series of 1966 when he accepted his position and assumed duties even though active military personnel are barred from assuming any plantilla positions in any government agencies.

Veloso was also charged in the third complaint with Assistant Cabinet Secretary and Chief of Staff Isabelita Moncano-Somozo.

ATM said Moncano-Somozo issued travel authority for Veloso at the expense of the government even though this was not connected to the functions of the Office of the Cabinet Secretary.

The anti-corruption watchdog alleged that Veloso used his personal relationship with Moncano-Somozo to get her approval, even if both of them were aware that he was not yet entitled to any creditable leaves at that time.

Both were charged for violating some sections of the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act. — Erwin Colcol/BM, GMA News