By Dominique Gabriel G. Bañaga

Ombudsman Conchita Carpio Morales yesterday ordered the dismissal of Negros Oriental Governor Roel Degamo after he was found guilty of grave misconduct in regard to an “anomalous utilization” of the province’s 2013 budget.

In a statement by the Office of the Ombudsman, the governor will be charged in violation of Section 3(e) of the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act. Incidentally, the section provided the same grounds in which Morales found probable cause to charge Degamo in the alleged misuse of P480 million in calamity funds back in January of this year.

According to the Ombudsman’s findings, Degamo submitted the proposed 2013 budget to the Negros Oriental Provincial Board in October 2012, which included an allocation of P10 million for “intelligence expenses.”

By January 2013, the board passed the budget without the P10 million fund. In April of that year, Degamo, after earlier vetoing the decision to exclude the fund, issued a memorandum directing the release of the deleted allotment “without further delay;” resulting in a cash advance in that amount being released to the governor.

However, the Ombudsman found, “The ‘cash advance’ was made in the absence of an approved appropriation.”

They cited the action as a violation of Section 305(a) of the Local Government Code and Section 4(1) of the Government Auditing Code of the Philippines.

“Degamo’s act of insisting for the release of the cash advance, despite the apparent absence of the necessary appropriation, is thus a clear badge of willful intent to violate the laws and established rules,” Morales affirmed.

Morales also directed the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) to implement the order.

Watchmen Daily Journal tried contacting Degamo’s camp, but they have yet to respond as of press time./DGB, WDJ