Puerto Princesa tourism execs charged over solicitation

MANILA, Philippines — The head of the of the Puerto Princesa City Tourism Office, together with three other officials, were charged by the Office of the Ombudsman over alleged solicitation of money for tourism activities and other projects.

Filed before the anti-graft court Sandiganbayan, the case involves violation of Section 7 (d) of Republic Act 6713 or the Code of Conduct and Ethical Standards for Public Officials and Employees.

Graft investigation and prosecution officer Irmina Bautista said that sometime in February to April 2014, Aileen Cynthia Amurao, head of the City Tourism Office, in conspiracy with tourism operations officers Joyce Enriquez, Michie Meneses and Michael Angelo Aquino Jr., sent solicitation letters to tourism-oriented groups, private entities and other individuals.

The solicitation letters were supposedly sent to ask for sponsorship grants for the city's various tourism activities and related projects being directly supervised by the respondents.

The ombudsman said the Amurao, Enriquez, Meneses and Aquino “took advantage of their positions” to solicit or accept favor from private parties.

However, the monetary value of the sponsorship grants that the respondents allegedly solicited or may have received was not indicated in the charge sheet.

Section 7 (d) of RA 6713 prohibits public officials from soliciting or accepting, directly or indirectly “any gift, gratuity, favor, entertainment, loan or anything of monetary value from any person in the course of their official duties or in connection with any operation being regulated by, or any transaction which may be affected by the functions of their office."

The ombudsman set the respondents' bail at P10,000 each.