ISABELA CITY, Basilan—For his alleged failure to remit to various government agencies more than P3.6 million in contributions of provincial officials and employees, Basilan Provincial Treasurer Mukin Abdulkadil has been charged with graft and corruption by the Office of the Ombudsman.
A recent report received here from the office of Ombudsman Conchita Carpio Morales said that based on an investigation earlier conducted by the Commission on Audit, Abdulkadil failed to remit, as of October 2008, the remaining P3.6 million from the total amount of P14.6-million contribution as of Dec. 31, 2007 which his office collected for remittance.
The remittances should have been made to the Government Service Insurance System, Philippine Health Insurance Corp., and Home Development Mutual Fund (Pag-IBIG Fund).
The report added that Abdulkadil had attributed to Basilan’s “peace and order problem for the delay in the remittance, but the OMB found the treasurer’s defense as unjustifiable considering that respondent failed to present evidence to support his claim.”
Ombudsman Morales further noted that “no sufficient evidence was presented by respondent to show that the amount was fully remitted” and that consequently, “the failure of respondent, being the provincial treasurer, to remit the balance of P3,685,726.12 constitutes gross inexcusable negligence, which caused undue injury to affected officials and employees of Isabela, Basilan province.”
According to the OMB, the anti-graft law, under Section 3, stipulates that a “public officer who causes injury to any party in the discharge of his official functions through gross inexcusable negligence is liable for graft”.