Ombudsman suspends Roderick Paulate, 3 others for ‘ghost employees’

The Office of the Ombudsman on Monday ordered a six-month preventive suspension against Quezon City Councilors Roderick Paulate and Francisco Calalay for allegedly hiring “ghost employees”.

 

Liaison officers Flordeliza Alvarez and Vicente Bajamunde were also charged for the same offense.

 

“The four are facing charges of Serious Dishonesty, Gross Neglect of Duty, Grave Misconduct, Falsification of Official Documents, and Conduct Grossly Prejudicial to the Best Interest of Service,” the Ombudsman said in a statement released on Monday.

 

Ombudsman Conchita Carpio-Morales signed the 11-page order last week finding sufficient grounds to place them under preventive suspension for six months without pay. 

 

“[The Quezon City Councilors] tend to show that they knowingly or willfully used their positions in placing under the employ of the local government of Quezon City, several ghost employees, and receiving their salaries, wages and other emoluments for their own personal gain,” the order read.

 

For Alvarez and Bajamunde, it said: “as liaison officers, they allowed themselves to be used by the respondent City Councilors when they collected and received the salaries, wages and other emoluments of these contractual ghost employees.”

 

The “ghost employee” positions included district coordinators, field investigators, and office aides, the statement said.

 

It added: “Complainant Field Investigation Office alleges that the National Statistics Office (NSO) and the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) have no records of birth or records of NBI Clearances, respectively, of a number of these contractual persons. “

 

GMA News Online tried to reach both Councilor Roderick Paulate and his manager, Ms. Malou Fagar. However, Ms. Fagar failed to give any comment regarding the issue.

 

False report?

 

Also, in May of this year, reports circulated that the four accused had already been suspended. However, a story in the Manila Standard Today quoted QC Vice Mayor Joy Belmonte as dismissing the report. “I don’t know where that report emanated,” she said.   

“The suspension order came from the media. No one could show us the records,” said Calalay in the news article. He theorized that the story may have been politically motivated. — DVM, GMA News