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[av_heading heading=’DOLE exec, New Lucena brgy captains face raps ‘ tag=’h3′ style=’blockquote modern-quote’ size=” subheading_active=’subheading_below’ subheading_size=’15’ padding=’10’ color=” custom_font=”]
BY GLENDA SOLOGASTOA
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ILOILO – A Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) regional director and several barangay officials in New Lucena town were facing criminal and administrative charges for alleged irregularities in a cash-for-work program.
Filed by Provincial Board member Liecel Seville (2nd District) on July 20 yet, the charges have been docked at the Office of the Ombudsman as case numbers OMB-V-C-16-0374 and OMB-V-A-16-0445.
“These cases shall be assigned to an investigator office who will act thereon accordingly,” Deputy Ombudsman for Visayas Paul Elmer Clemente wrote Seville on Sept. 22.
The respondents were DOLE regional director Ponciano Ligutom; barangay captains Edgar Sorongon II of Dawis, Armando Lomigo of Wari-wari, Jhony Paranga of Bololacao, Jeffrey Araneta of Poblacion, and Richard Mana-ay of Burot; and Wari-Wari barangay treasurer Linde Pastrana.
They were charged with violation of Section 3 of Republic Act 3019, or the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act, and election offenses under Section 261 of the Omnibus Election Code.
The case stemmed from the alleged anomalous implementation of the DOLE’s Tulong Panghanapbuhay sa Ating Disadvantaged/Disabled Workers (TUPAD) program in Dawis and Wari-wari.
According to Seville, the respondents violated the guidelines in implementing the DOLE Livelihood and Emergency Employment Programs (DILEEP) and misappropriated public finds by:
* employing beneficiaries not residing in the proponent barangays
* letting them work for less than 10 days, and
* “payroll padding,” or making it appear that a beneficiary worked and was paid for 15 days when in fact they only worked for shorter period.
Except for Ligutom, the respondents also committed election offenses, Seville claimed.
“They influenced the cash-for-work beneficiaries and used the TUPAD program and the public funds concomitant therewith to give unwarranted benefits and advantage to the candidacies of 2nd District congressman Arcadio Gorriceta and now New Lucena mayor Christian Sorongon,” she said.
She claimed the barangay officials did this by:
* convening the beneficiaries for the “launching” of the TUPAS program on April 25, 2016; it turned out to be a campaign meeting; and
* influencing the beneficiaries to vote for Sorongon by paying them P500 each two days before the election in the guise of “advance” on their wages with the promise that the amount would be their bonus should Sorongon win.
Gorriceta and Sorongon were not immediately available for comment as of this writing./PN
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