Graft complaint has yet to reach Manila treasurer

Five days after being accused of graft and corruption by the Department of Finance (DOF), the Manila city treasurer said she has yet to receive the official complaint from the Office of the Ombudsman.

The DOF-Revenue Integrity Protection Service (RIPS) last week revealed to media that Manila treasurer Liberty Toledo allegedly acquired real estate properties worth millions and made 27 trips abroad from 1995-2002 despite only having a monthly income of P22,307, or P267,684 annually.

Not having received a copy of the official complaint has deprived her of an avenue to defend herself against the accusations, she said.

Toledo was only able to get a copy of the unsigned complaint from her friends in media.

"I hope and pray government servants would be protected by our basic constitutional rights to information and due process. In a democratic policy even obvious criminals are presumed innocent until proven guilty. As a respondent, I will duly answer the allegations point by point in the proper forum of justice," she said.

Apart from tainting her reputation, the case has also affected her family.

"This controversy rocked the peace of my office and family. It has particularly made my young children vulnerable to unfair social stigma. It is unfair because I have been publicly condemned without the benefit of due process and without clear evidence prior to the publicity. I was unjustly tried by publicity.

The reports were not properly substantiated. They were mere conjectures, hearsay and fabricated specters of malediction," Toledo said in a statement.

She has been in government for 26 years and rose from the ranks.

"Having assumed the financial custodianship of the prime city of our country. I have kept a dictum of preserving the professional and moral integrity of my person and that of the City Treasurer’s Office," Toledo said.

In her statements of assets and liabilities for the years 1999, 2003, and 2004, she and her husband Jose Francisco only declared under oath a house and lot at Better Living Subdivision in Parañaque worth P300,000. However, the DOF-RIPS claimed the property was undervalued and that its actual worth was P4 million.