DPWH official fired for ill-gotten wealth

The Office of the Ombudsman dismissed from government service yesterday a ranking official of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) after flunking the government’s lifestyle check for having ill-gotten wealth.

Undersecretary Salvador Pleyto, after being found guilty of grave misconduct and dishonesty, will also have to forfeit his retirement benefits and be permanently disqualified from holding public office.

Ombudsman Simeon Marcelo said the statement of assets and liabilities (SAL) the DPWH executive declared indicated a "significant rise in his net worth that cannot be explained or... justified within the context of his supposedly complete listing of finances."

Ombudsman spokesman Ernesto Nocos said this only proves that "Pleyto’s guilt for unlawful acquisition of wealth immediately translates into dishonesty and grave misconduct," as interpreted by Marcelo.

Pleyto, who was slapped with a six-month suspension without pay in September 2003, is accused of using members of his family as shields and fronts for his alleged ill-gotten wealth. Ombudsman probers did not give credence to this because none of the Pleyto relatives listed had jobs.

Pleyto was appointed to the DPWH in early 2003, but probers found evidence that he has various real estate property in Sta. Maria, Bulacan valued at P16.6 million and listed under the names of his wife, Miguela, and their children Russel, Mary Grace and Salvador Jr.

Nocos said Pleyto’s real estate properties were "grossly disproportionate" to his declared income. He also revealed there was an "unusual increase" in his net worth in 2002 as compared to his net worth in 2001.

Pleyto declared in 2001 that his net worth was P4.5 million. The following year, he said his assets increased to P5.9 million, or an increase of P1.4 million. "But Pleyto and his wife’s total income, after taxes, was P692,780 in 2002," the Ombudsman said.

Probers also discovered that Pleyto made 17 overseas trips since 1995, just like his wife Miguela, and even brought along his son Salvador Jr. on two of his nine "unofficial travels" - to the US in October 2000 and a conference in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia in October 1999.

The Ombudsman said Salvador Jr. went on five foreign trips while Russel went on six. For all these trips, Nocos said Pleyto spent a total of P3.7 million.