Pasay treasurer faces graft raps

MANILA, Philippines - Pasay City treasurer Manuel Leycano Jr. was charged with graft by the Department of Finance’s Revenue Integrity Protection Service (RIPS) for not disclosing all his properties in his Statements of Assets, Liabilities and Net worth (SALN).

In a statement issued Friday, the RIPS alleged that Leycano did not report his 2002 Isuzu Wagon in the SALNs he filed for 2006 and 2009.

Citing records from the Land Transportation Office as well, RIPS said Leycano’s 2007 SALN also revealed that he acquired the car for P850,000 and had it registered with the LTO on May 29, 2002. The vehicle was last registered on June 2, 2011.

His 2006 and 2009 SALNs also showed that he owned motor vehicles during those years but these were not declared in his 2007 SALN.

RIPS said this is an indication that Leycano had been remiss in his obligation as a public officer to submit a true and detailed SALN.

“He also did not submit his SALNs for the years 2003, 2004, 2005 and 2008,” RIPS said.

The Office of the Ombudsman and the Bureau of Local Government Finance (BLGF) confirmed Leycano’s non-submission of SALNs, according to RIPS.

Leycano denied the allegations. “I have religiously declared my personal assets and filed my SALN, I was never given chance to air my side before the complaint was filed,” he told The STAR in a telephone interview.

He was the provincial treasurer of Laguna for 14 years before he took over Pasay’s treasury on April 30, 2010.

Leycano said during his stint in Laguna, he filed his SALN with the provincial government’s human resource office, which in turn filed it with the Office of the Ombudsman.

“The investigation was limited only to records of the BLGF, they should have looked into the records of the provincial personnel office in Laguna,” he said. “I was denied my right to due process.”

Leycano said he is preparing all the duplicate copies of his SALN to clear his name. – Iris Gonzales, Perseus Echeminada