By Dominic B. dela Cruz
Staff reporter
Laoag
City—“I swear on my father’s grave, my
grandfather’s grave and even uray siyak
matayak ita appo including my wife, my three children and my two
grandchildren that we know nothing about this. Awan pulos ammu mi a kastoy gayam ti inar-aramid ni Miss Elena
Asuncion”.
This was Laoag vice mayor
Michael V. Fariñas’ emotional statement during the senior citizen’s program,
referring to the missing P85 million from the city’s coffers. The program was
part of the vice mayor’s month-long birthday celebration this August.
The vice mayor served as
Laoag mayor from 2004-2010.
Mr. Fariñas added that the
different department heads in the city government were also unaware of the
missing monies, including accountant Edgar Pascual, whose prime task is to
audit the city government’s finances.
He stressed that he is also
very eager to learn the result of the Commission on Audit investigation. He added
that he is “10 times” more eager to know that most people, saying: “Tapnu met madalusan iti nagan mi nga
agasawan.”
“Saanak a managibales a tao, ngem sapay kuma dagidiay a nagsarsarita iti
madi wennu nagpan-panunot kontra kaniyak wennu kontra ken Chevylle, sapay kad kuma ta addan to met konsensiya da
nga agpa despensar kadakami wennu agpakawan kayo lattan ken Apo Diyosen appo”,
he said.
As a “father of the city”, he
said it is his obligation to inform the people of Laoag and enlighten their
minds “ta adu met iti simmakayen ken
agpaspasikaten kurang na lang nga itudo da kami payen nga adda pakainaigan min”.
Mr. Fariñas stressed in his
speech that nobody yet knows the exact amount of missing money as COA has not
released their findings as of yet.
He also disclosed that it was
the regional Bureau of Local Government Finance (BLGF) which appointed Ms.
Asuncion as city treasurer. He emphasized that the city government or the mayor
also has no authority to suspend or remove a sitting city government treasurer.
2 bags
Mr. Fariñas also divulged that Ms. Asuncion was caught by
the CCTV camera spiriting away two bags as she exited from the backdoor of her
office just before she, herself, disappeared.
He also related that all of
the city government’s time deposit accounts were terminated and entered in
current accounts.
“Awan napukaw ket ti lang pagsiddaawak no apay adda paylang maipakpakita
a certificate of time deposits which I cannot answer the question why”.
City council probe
the vice mayor also reported that the Sangguniang Panlungsod
has initiated an investigation in the matter, in response to the Sangguniang
Panlalawigan request.
They discovered that there
was no transfer of function or even a simple turnover when the new treasurer
was appointed. Ms. Asuncion served as cashier prior to becoming the treasurer.
He explained that the process
Ms. Asuncion implemented made her the collector of all cash with the cashier
only signing the deposit slip. The cashier at the time was identified as Bella
Santiago.
Mr. Fariñas apologized at the
end of his speech for becoming a “killjoy” but he said he only took the
opportunity to explain himself and to inform everyone about what he knows so
far about the issue.
More than two months after
the missing money was discovered, the COA has yet to complete its
investigation. A parallel probe conducted by the BLGF was completed in June.
The report, however, is not being released as they are also waiting for the COA
to wrap up its own probe.
Ms. Asuncion’s whereabouts are
still unknown. Unconfirmed reports have placed her at the United States of
America but this has not been verified.
Provincial board
With the investigation still not completed, the Sangguniang
Panlalawigan passed a resolution requesting the Office of the Ombudsman to join
the investigation.
SP member Vicentito “Toto” M.
Lazo, the measure’s sponsor, said the Ombudsman would help fast track the
investigation. He added that they would also pinpoint who are really involved
in the issue.
The board earlier passed
another resolution requesting Laoag mayor Chevylle V. Fariñas and Mr. Fariñas
to file leaves of absence for the duration of the investigation. The two Laoag
officials however rebuffed the request.
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