NEGROS OCCIDENTAL, Philippines – An accountant filed graft complaints on Tuesday, March 11, with the Office of the Ombudsman-Iloilo against Roxas City Mayor Ronnie Dadivas and two of his subordinates over city hall’s 30 allegedly unauthorized time deposits in two banks, using P402 million in “idle” city funds in 2023.
The complainant, accountant Carmen Andrade of Barangay Dayao, Roxas City in Capiz, filed criminal and administrative complaints against Dadivas, city treasurer Mimi Riano, and city accountant Teresita Bidiones.
Andrade sought a six-month preventive suspension order against the local officials to preserve the integrity of the documents cited in the complaints.
Rappler tried to reach the officials named in the complaints through the city government’s and city administrator’s email addresses, the mayor’s office landline, and Dadivas’ personal Facebook account, but has yet to receive a response as of this posting. This report will be updated if they give their statements.
In her seven-page complaint, Andrade accused Dadivas, Riano, and Bidiones of violating the anti-graft law and committing technical malversation.
She also urged the ombudsman to hold the officials administratively liable for conduct prejudicial to the best interest of service, dishonesty, gross misconduct, and grave abuse of authority.
Andrade’s complaints stemmed from the Commission on Audit’s (COA) 2023 report, which flagged 30 time deposits made by the local government with the Development Bank of the Philippines and Land Bank of the Philippines, amounting to P402 million, allegedly without authorization from the city council.
Of the 30 unauthorized deposits, 15 were with DBP and 15 with LBP.
COA said none of the time deposits had the city council’s approval, an alleged violation of a 1992 COA circular and the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act.
“As such, the necessity, propriety, and validity of the transactions (the time deposits) can no longer be ascertained,” COA stated in its annual report released only this year.
Andrade said state auditors also found that the deposits included a P25-million trust fund and an P8-million special education fund.
COA said trust and education funds cannot be placed in time deposits under the 1992 rules set by the commission.
Andrade argued that declaring a special education appropriation as “idle funds” constituted technical malversation, violating provisions of the Local Government Code and the Revised Penal Code.
According to COA, the special education fund is intended for:
- Construction, repair, and maintenance of school buildings and other facilities in public elementary and secondary schools
- Establishment and maintenance of extension classrooms
- Funding sports activities at the division, district, municipal, and barangay levels
State auditors said any excess amounts from the trust or special education funds should have been reverted to the local government’s general fund, rather than placed in time deposits. – Rappler.com