Roderick Paulate, others mum on Ombudsman dismissal

The office of Quezon City District 2 Councilor and longtime TV host and movie actor Roderick Paulate refused to comment on Thursday on the councilor's dismissal from service, ordered by the Ombudsman on Wednesday, for the alleged hiring of "ghost employees" in 2010.

Asked for a reaction, the office replied, "Wala po kaming masasagot diyan."

The councilor was said to be in a meeting at the time.

Paulate, along with QC Councilor Francisco Calalay, and city liaison officers Florediza Alvarez and Vicente Bajamunde, was found guilty of falsification of official documents, serious dishonesty and grave misconduct.

In a resolution, Ombudsman Conchita Carpio-Morales said that investigation results revealed 60 "ghost employee" positions whose salaries were received by Paulate and Calalay.

GMA News Online also tried to reach out to the other respondents on Thursday but has yet to receive their replies as of posting time.

Case dates back to 2012

In July 2012, Paulate and Calalay were suspended for six months by the Office of the Ombudsman for allegedly hiring "ghost employees." 

However, in September 2012, the Court of Appeals temporarily lifted the suspension order on Paulate, Calalay and Bajamunde.

Paulate earlier denied in May 2012 that there were ghost employees in his payroll, saying the accusation could just be an "initiation test."

The filing of complaint and subsequent investigation stemmed from an "Imbestigador" report released in 2010.

It was the Imbestigador report that first looked into the alleged payroll fraud in the Quezon City Hall. According to an employee hidden under the name "Jean," the admin adds the names of the "ghost employees" in the payroll. Every payday, the salary is sent to the office of the councilors.

The report added that the personal data sheets of the ghost employees used the same ID photo with different backgrounds, and that the signatures on the payroll were similar to each other. —KG, GMA News