Calamba officials to be charged for graft

LAGUNA , Philippines  – Calamba City councilor Niño Lajara called on a deeper investigation into the alleged P26 million anomalies in connivance with suppliers and unscrupulous employees at the city hall, he said yesterday.

Councilor Niño Lajara, who is running for re-election, said he and his colleagues are set to file charges in the Office of the Ombudsman and criminal charges against all suppliers and department heads involved in the reported irregularity.

Lajara said various civic organizations, students and taxpayers are asking for an investigation to determine who is liable for the P26 million anomaly. The public also demanded the local executives to immediately suspend all those involved including accountant Carminia Espiridion.

Lajara said the public fears that there might be a cover up and attempt to whitewash the anomalies after a report that employees from the accounting department were working overtime at the office.

Based on documents obtained by The STAR, there were two booklet checks from the General and Educational funds that were discovered missing by a certain Nathaniel Pia, inside the city treasurer’s office headed by Liberty Toledo, on April 15.

Subsequently, the city treasurer immediately reported the missing booklet checks to Calamba City Mayor Joaquin Chipeco and requested the Philippine National Bank to stop payment. The local executives ordered Toledo and city administrator lawyer Manuel Ladrido to take appropriate action and sought the help from the National Bureau of Investigation.

Documents showed that that there are 30 checks amounting to P26,618,124.59 which were encashed at the bank since February. The checks showed that the account advice of the City Check Disbursement Journal transaction was approved by Espiridion.