Bukidnon governor suspended for 6 months

MANILA, Philippines - The Office of the Ombudsman has ordered the suspension for six months of Bukidnon Gov. Jose Ma. Zubiri Jr.

Zubiri was found guilty of grave abuse of authority for denying the request to commute or convert to cash the leave credits of former provincial assessor Carlos Ycaro in 2013, Ombudsman Conchita Carpio-Morales said yesterday.

Morales ordered the secretary of the Department of the Interior and Local Government to enforce the suspension order.

She said Zubiri’s action violated Section 5(a) of Republic Act 6713 or the Code of Ethical Standards for Public Officials and Employees.

In his defense, Zubiri said he denied Ycaro’s request for failing to account for missing chairs under his jurisdiction.

“It cannot serve as a valid excuse to deny approval of his application for leave commutation, especially when he has more than 300 days in leave credits,” the anti-graft court said.

Zubiri ignored the letters of the complainant, the court added.

More ‘pork’ raps filed vs ex-lawmakers

Meanwhile, Morales ordered yesterday the filing of additional complaints before the Sandiganbayan against former lawmakers Candido Pancrudo Jr. of Bukidnon and Marc Douglas Cagas IV of Davao del Sur in connection with the pork barrel scam.

Pancrudo was indicted in April for malversation of public funds for allegedly misusing P8 million of his Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) or pork barrel in 2008.

The new charges were for allegedly funneling his PDAF to ”ghost” projects worth P29.2 million in 2007.

Cagas, who was earlier indicted for the alleged misuse of P11million of his PDAF from 2007 to 2009, faces additional charges for allegedly using his pork barrel for ghost projects.

“These repeated, illegal transfers of public funds… for projects which did not exist… the irregular disbursements, represent quantifiable pecuniary losses to the government,” the ombudsman said.