BY GLENDA SOLOGASTOA
ILOILO – The formal investigation on the alleged irregular implementation of the province’s Rice Development Program involving two officials of the Provincial Agriculture Office (PAO) will kick off next week.
According to Atty. Dennis Ventilacion, Provincial Legal Office (PLO) chief, Gov. Arthur Defensor Sr. had formed a formal investigating committee headed by Atty. Ethel Sanson of the Investigation and Research Division of the PLO.
The formal investigation would dissect evidence for and against the respondents, namely Dr. Ildefonso Toledo, PAO chief, and rice program coordinator Carmelo Oren.
The governor adopted the recommendation of the fact-finding committee he had created early this year to look into the alleged irregularities of Toledo and Oren, who were charged with simple neglect of duty and grave misconduct, respectively.
Sanson, meanwhile, said they are still waiting for the respondents’ replies to formal charges within 30 days.
Sanson said one of the respondents had hired a lawyer.
Under Civil Service Commission rules, grave misconduct is a ground for dismissal from service, said Ventilacion.
Neglect of duty, on the other hand, is punishable with one month and one day to six months suspension.
Pending the investigation, the governor has the option to preventively suspend Toledo and Oren depending on his assessment of the gravity of the complaints against them, or if their presence may hamper the investigation.
So far, Ventilacion said, the governor had not issued any preventive suspension order against the two.
The fact-finding committee noted discrepancies in PAO’s records on the Rice Development Program, RDP, specifically on the number of bags of rice seeds and fertilizers purchased and those distributed to farmers.
According to the fact-finding team headed by Atty.Susette Mamon, failure to account constituted administrative liability.
Toledo had insisted there were no irregularities in the implementation of the Rice Development Program.
He said rice seeds and fertilizers reached their intended farmer-beneficiaries but there were errors in documentation that resulted to discrepancies Mamon had observed.
Oren has also denied irregularities in the Rice Development Program./PN
