Southern Leyte gov faces falsification raps

MANILA, Philippines - The governor of Southern Leyte is facing charges for falsification of public documents.

In a recent decision, the Office of the Ombudsman ordered the filing of charges against Damian Mercado before the Sandiganbayan for failing to submit a true, correct and complete” personal data sheet and profile directory or data capture form of local officials in 2010.

The ombudsman said Mercado did not indicate the date when he finished his studies even though he declared that he is a graduate of civil engineering.

“Mercado’s failure to fill up the spaces for the year when he graduated...constitutes concealment of information,” the decision signed by Ombudsman Conchita Carpio-Morales read.

The incomplete entries in the documents “engender the well-founded belief that the governor withheld and concealed the truth and falsified his entries,” the ruling stated.

The ombudsman said Mercado might have an intention to deceive because as a contractor, he ”could have been mistaken for a civil engineer.”

The court also rejected Mercado’s argument that the complaint should be dismissed due to the inordinate delay in the probe, saying fact-finding is not part of the preliminary investigation.