Monday, July 9, 2012

Roderick Paulate ghost employees

Councilors Roderick Paulate and Francisco Calalay Jr., and their aides have been ordered suspended by Ombudsman Conchita Carpio Morales for allegedly hiring "ghost" employees in 2010.

According to the order that Morales signed, there is "strong evidence of guilt on the part of the respondents."

The Office of the Ombudsman said the two councilors endorsed the contractual employees and attested that they rendered service to the city. Investigators found, however, that "these fictitious personnel do not have birth records from the National Statistics Office, are not registered voters of Quezon City, have (not) secured NBI clearances, and are not known in the respective barangays where they allegedly reside or the indicated addresses where they purportedly reside do not exist."  

City councilors Paulate and Calalay, as well as their liaison officers Flordeliza Alvarez and Vicente Bajamunde, are facing charges of Serious Dishonesty, Gross Neglect of Duty, Grave Misconduct, Falsification of Official Documents, and Conduct Grossly Prejudicial to the Best Interest of Service.

The Office of the Ombudsman said that the councilors' endorsement "tend to show that they knowingly or willfully used their positions in placing under the employ of the local government of Quezon City, several ghost employees, and receiving their salaries, wages and other emoluments for their own personal gain."

The liaison officers allowed themselves to be used when they received the salaries meant for the "ghost" employees, the Office of the Ombudsman said. The four will be on preventive suspension without pay for six months.

The Office of the Ombudsman said in May that Paulate and Calalay disbursed a total of P3.3 million for 59 "job order personnel" from July to November 2010.

Wednesday, July 4, 2012

Terminologies used in the impeachment trial of Chief Justice Renato C. Corona

Here is the glossary of terms as provided in the government website.

1. Betrayal of Public Trust
- … The term ‘betrayal of public trust’ as explained by Commissioner Romulo, is a catch-all phrase to include all acts which are not punishable by statutes as penal offenses, but nonetheless, render the officer unfit to continue in office. It includes betrayal of public interest, inexcusable negligence of duty, tyrannical abuse of power, breach of official duty by malfeasance or misfeasance, cronyism, favoritism, etc., to the prejudice of public interest and which tend to bring the office in to dispute.”
(Record of the Constitutional Commission, Proceedings and Debates, 272)
2. Judiciary Development Fund
Created by Presidential Decree No. 1949; a fund sourced from legal fees to augment the allowances of the members and personnel of the Judiciary and to finance the acquisition, maintenance, and repair of office equipment and facilities.
3. Malversation of Public Funds
According to RA 1060: Malversation of public funds or property. — Presumption of malversation. — Any public officer who, by reason of the duties of his office, is accountable for public funds or property, shall appropriate the same, or shall take or misappropriate shall consent, or through abandonment or negligence, shall permit any other person to take such public funds or property, wholly or partially, or shall otherwise be guilty of the misappropriation or malversation of such funds or property.
4. Prima Facie Evidence
Evidence that would, if uncontested, establish a fact or raise a presumption of a fact.
Prima facie is Latin for “on its face.”
5. Res Judicata
Latin for “the thing has been decided” and pertains to the principle that a final judgment of a competent court is conclusive upon the parties in any subsequent litigation involving the same cause of action.
6. SALN
Statement of Assets and Liabilities. Every public officer, after assuming office, and within the month of January of every other year thereafter, as well as upon the expiration of his term of office, or upon his resignation or separation from office, shall prepare and file with the office of the corresponding Department Head, or in the case of a Head of Department or chief of an independent office, with the Office of the President, or in the case of members of the Congress and the officials and employees thereof, with the Office of the Secretary of the corresponding House, a true detailed and sworn statement of assets and liabilities, including a statement of the amounts and sources of his income, the amounts of his personal and family expenses and the amount of income taxes paid for the next preceding calendar year: Provided, That public officers assuming office less than two months before the end of the calendar year, may file their statements in the following months of January.
7. Fair Market Value – Fair market value (FMV) is an estimate of the market value of a property, based on what a knowledgeable, willing, and unpressured buyer would probably pay to a knowledgeable, willing, and unpressured seller in the market.(wiki)
8. Assessed value-The value of an asset assigned by a public tax assessor for the purposes of taxation.
9. Zonal value -is the basis for computing the fair market cakue of the property and the computation of the internal revenue taxes. (source)
10. Evidence-in its broadest sense includes everything that is used to determine or demonstrate the truth of an assertion. Giving or procuring evidence is the process of using those things that are either (a) presumed to be true, or (b) were themselves proven via evidence, to demonstrate an assertion’s truth.
11. Exhibit – in a criminal prosecution or a civil trial, is physical or documentary evidence brought before the jury. The artifact or document itself is presented for the jury’s inspection.An exhibit may or may not be accepted as evidence.
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