THE Office of the Ombudsman has ordered the preventive suspension of Nueva Ecija Gov. Aurelio Umali, who was facing administrative charges for alleged issuance of illegal quarry permits.
In a three-page ruling, the anti-graft prosecutors said they found sufficient evidence of guilt against Umali who was accused of gross misconduct and gross neglect of duty “which may warrant his removal from the service.”
Umali, his wife-former governor Czarina Umali and natural resources officer Wilfredo Pangilinan were facing administrative complaints for “grave misconduct, gross neglect of duty and conduct prejudicial to the best interest of the service” under the Civil Service Law.
The complainant, Roberto Duldulao, accused the Umalis and Pangilinan of conspiracy to issue 205 quarry permits for extraction of sand and gravel to unqualified individuals who failed to submit an environmental compliance certificate (ECC) from the Department of Environment and Natural Resources.
Instead of requiring submission of the ECC, Umali only required the quarry applicants to secure local environment clearance certificates (LECCs).
The Ombudsman cited a report of the House of Representatives’ Committee on Good Government and Public Accountability citing that accepting LECCs “is a clear circumvention of the law.”
“On the other hand, provincial environment and natural resources officer (PENRO) Wilfredo Pangilinan conspired with and joined spouses Umali in the commission of the unlawful act by his continued observance and issuance of recommendation for the approval of quarry permits with the use only of the LECC,” the Ombudsman resolution stated.
The Ombudsman also found the Umalis of being remiss in their duty to remit to local government units hosting the quarry operations the excise taxes the province collected from the quarry permit holders.
“Further, after the provincial government of Nueva Ecija collected taxes on the extracted sand and gravel, the shares of said taxes of the local government units concerned were not released,” the ruling read.
The governor’s preventive suspension was deemed necessary to preserve documents and evidence in the investigation and “in order to avoid his commission of further malfeasance and/or misfeasance in office,” it noted.
The incumbent governor is on his second term as governor of Nueva Ecija. He was elected in 2019, replacing his wife, Czarina, who served a single term as governor starting 2016.
Editor’s Note: This is an updated article. Originally posted with the headline Ombudsman orders preventive suspension of Nueva Ecija governor