Documents falsification by Capitol workers probed

ILOILO CITY, Philippines — Several Iloilo Capitol employees will be placed under investigation for alleged falsification of documents in the release of vouchers for the payment of medical supplies of provincial and district hospitals in the province.

Governor Arthur Defensor Sr. called for an immediate investigation after he found out that there were several alterations in the disbursement of vouchers released to a contractor, Diomar Trading, payable for the months of April and May this year.

Defensor said the investigation is headed by lawyer Dennis Ventilacion of the Provincial Legal Office, who was also tasked to ascertain who were the employees involved in the falsification of documents and conniving with the winning contractor.

The governor said the anomalous transaction was discovered after the Accounting Office submitted its report to him regarding the suspicious alteration of 17 released vouchers.

Initially, the amount of the 12 checks to be paid to the contractor totaled P788,099.14 but it was altered to P881,038.19 or with a difference of P92,939.05. Five other checks were however not yet released.

“Don’t steal unless I am the governor. If you will steal, you better resign because I want to leave a legacy of being transparent especially in the government transactions,” the governor said during the flag-raising ceremony at the Iloilo Capitol compound. —(FREEMAN)