DPWH official fails lifestyle check, suspended for 6 months

He has been suspended and he is crying foul.

Department of Public Works and Highways Undersecretary Salvador Pleyto was identified as the second DPWH official to fail the government’s lifestyle check, the Office of the Ombudsman said in a statement yesterday.

Pleyto was put under six months’ preventive suspension without pay by the Ombudsman for gross misconduct "considering the strong evidence of guilt and the fact that the charges of grave misconduct and dishonesty may warrant (Pleyto’s) removal from service," Assistant Ombudsman Ernesto Nocos said.

However, Pleyto said he was not accorded due process, as he was not allowed to explain his side when the Transparency Group conducting the lifestyle check announced he was among the public officials found to be living beyond their means.

"I had my answer all ready for them," the 61-year-old Pleyto said. "All I am waiting for is the order for me to explain. I can explain everything."

In an earlier interview, Pleyto said he felt he was singled out from among other DPWH officials. "Why just me? There are others out there who cannot explain their wealth. "

Pleyto was suspended by Ombudsman Simeon Marcelo "pending administrative investigation," Nocos said, after evidence presented by the Philippine National Police Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) and the watchdog Transparency Group was deemed strong enough to warrant a preventive suspension.

Pleyto was also ordered to "file his counter-affidavit and other controverting evidence to the said complaint... within 10 days from receipt" of the suspension order.

The other DPWH official suspended by the Ombudsman is regional director Romeo Panganiban. Also suspended on suspicion of graft and unexplained wealth were Deputy Customs Commissioner Gil Valera and deputy BOC collector Jaime Maglipon of the BOC office at the Clark Special Economic Zone.

Transparency Group lawyer Nicasio Conti and CIDG director Chief Superintendent Eduardo Matillano said the filing of charges against Pleyto is the result of five months of investigation.

Rich Wife

"I am fortunate that I am married to an heiress and an industrious woman, that is why we have this fortune," said Pleyto, who like DPWH Secretary Florante Soriquez, rose rapidly from the post of regional director to his current post just two years into the Arroyo administration. Pleyto has been employed by the DPWH for the last 37 years.

Pleyto said his family’s wealth was built around real estate purchased by his wife, Miguela, when land was still cheap in Sta. Maria, Bulacan, a booming piggery and poultry farm and a successful lending shop that now has four branches in Bulacan.

The Office of the Ombudsman estimates the total value of Pleyto’s property holdings at P16,686,673.20. Most of these pieces of real property were recorded in the name of Pleyto’s wife and their children, Russel, Mary Grace and Salvador Juan Pleyto Jr.

According to the suspension order issued by the Ombudsman, Pleyto declared his total real properties in his 2001 and 2002 statement of assets and liabilities and net worth as worth P5,956,400 and P9,384,090.25, respectively.

"It can be inferred from the pieces of evidence gathered that the real properties registered in the names of (Pleyto’s) three children are actually the former’s unexplained wealth, since all of them (Pleyto’s children) have no substantial income to show that they have the capacity to have lawfully acquired the same," Nocos said.

Net Worth

The Assistant Ombudsman also noted "the unusual increase" in Pleyto’s net worth in 2002 "in the amount of P1.37 million, as compared to his net worth in 2001."

This increase in Pleyto’s net worth, Nocos said, "is already grossly disproportionate to (Pleyto’s) known legitimate income."

Pleyto’s declared net worth for 2001 was P4,585,552.80.

An analysis of the increase in the DPWH undersecretary’s assets showed that "his real properties increased to P9,384,090.25 in a matter of one year," Nocos added. "This is accounted for by the improvement of his house and lot in Quezon City of P2 million and his purchase of two lots in Bulacan for the amount of P1,427,690.25."

"Assuming that the increase in (Pleyto’s) bank loan was utilized to purchase the lots in Bulacan," Nocos said, "the money he used to construct improvements on his house in Quezon City in the amount of P2,000,000 is unaccounted."

Pleyto’s personal properties increased by P3,371,054.30, the Office of the Ombudsman said. "Based on entries in his 2002 statement of assets and liabilities and net worth, there is no explanation for this."

Pleyto said he had declared a net worth of almost P6 million in his statement of assets and liabilities. He also said the home he built in Quezon City was funded by a loan, which he took out in 1980 and finished paying in 1992.

Records from the Bureau of Immigration also showed Pleyto made 17 trips abroad, nine of them unofficial. BI records also show Pleyto brought his son, Salvador Jr., with him to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia in October 1999 and the United States in October 2000.

Pleyto’s wife, Miguela, made 17 trips abroad, while Salvador Jr. made five overseas trips and Pleyto’s other son, Russel, made six trips.

The expenses for these travels made by the Pleyto family totaled P3.7 million, Nocos said.

Pleyto presented copies of clearances from the Civil Service Commission and the Presidential Anti-Graft Commission (PAGC) that allowed him to travel abroad. He said he has no pending cases and that the 12 cases filed against him before the Office of the Ombudsman have all been dismissed.