Former CDO finance exec faces graft raps

The National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) in Northern Mindanao has recommended the filing of graft charges against a former Cagayan de Oro City Hall employee for allegedly tampering tax receipts. NBI regional director Virgilio Mendez said charges of estafa through falsification will be filed against Remedios Zamayla, a former City Finance Department staff member, accused of pocketing government money through tampered tax receipts. Zamayla, who held a supervisory rank in the tax collection section, filed a leave of absence in October 2006, days before her involvement in the alleged tax scam surfaced. Mendez said they will file charges against her before the Office of the Ombudsman in Mindanao once the City Treasurer's Office submits documentary evidence and its final report on the matter. Documents from the City Finance Department, which purportedly include falsified papers and tampered receipts bearing Zamayla's handwriting and signatures, will corroborate the evidence already gathered by the probe agency, said Mendez. "We will incorporate the reports, evidentiary documents and the sworn statements of taxpayers who claimed to be victimized by the alleged act into our own findings," he said. He also said Zamayla has not yet fled the country, and that unconfirmed reports indicate she is still in Misamis Oriental where she maintains a residence in a town there. Earlier investigation revealed that Zamayla had issued tampered tax receipts to at least 80 business establishments, depriving the government of almost a million pesos in taxes since last year. The number of tampered tax receipts uncovered and the corresponding taxes lost had continued to rise as the investigation dragged on, probers said, though they were unable to give specific figures. City Treasurer Lino Daral earlier said that although Zamayla had been stripped of collection duties, she still collected taxes by using the accountable forms of five tax collectors. These tax collection personnel later found that the receipts assigned to them were used by Zamayla. Accountable forms like the official receipts issued by the City Treasury are non-transferable. The five employees, identified as Delia Poncardas, Jean Gamaylo, Arsenieto Manseguiao, Hyrence Garcia, Elvis Reyes, all denied involvement in Zamayla's alleged wrongdoings in their respective written explanations to Daral. Most of them accused Zamayla, then their immediate superior, of coercing them into giving their accountable forms to her, while others said the accountable forms went to her hands without their knowledge. Mendez said no case has been mulled against the five employees, adding they will wait for recommendations from the City Legal Office. Zamayla's alleged tampering of receipts, despite being relieved from that duty since June 2005, resulted in a total loss of P980,452.71 in taxes, Daral said, adding that the amount could reach "millions" if the suspect had been practicing such irregularity when she was still an accountable officer. Zamayla has reportedly been employed in said office for nearly 30 years. The list of tax-paying companies whose duplicate copies of receipts had been discovered to have been tampered include private schools, hotels, funeral homes, construction companies and fastfoods, documents gathered from the investigation showed. Some of the companies, mostly construction firms who are considered "transient taxpayers," are not from Cagayan de Oro. Records also show that a total of P421,631.26 in paid taxes Zamayla had supposedly collected from July to September last year was made to appear in the duplicate-receipts as only P1,380.00 in all. Meanwhile, a former director of the National Meat Inspection Commission in Mindanao now faces graft charges for not remitting his collections to the National Treasury during his watch. Sun-Star Davao reported Thursday that the Commission of Audit (COA) lodged charges against Dionisio Jude Madera for violating the anti-graft law. Graft law and prosecution officer Lourdes Padre Juan recommended the filing of charges based on the joint complaint of Virgie Hutchins, Maria Teresa Aliman, Catherine Logronio, and Edwina Dollente of the COA. A bail bond of P30,000 was recommended for his temporary liberty. COA investigation showed Madera, during his term as NMIC regional director, failed to include P2,448,709.17 in his report of collection. The COA investigators said the official receipts issued by Madera's office was acquired and purchased from other government agency. They said the amount was likely misappropriated for his personal benefit thus, the filing of the case. - GMANews.TV