Rizal town execs face falsification raps

MANILA, Philippines - The Office of the Ombudsman yesterday ordered the filing of charges against a town mayor and a former vice mayor in Rizal for falsification of public documents.

Pililla Mayor Leandro Masikip and former vice mayor Tomas Aguirre will be indicted for allegedly falsifying a Sangguniang Bayan Resolution authorizing the appropriation of P105,350 for the expropriation of a parcel of land to construct a barangay road.

Masikip and Aguirre made it appear that the resolution was deliberated upon and passed by the provincial council, ombudsman probers said.

“Proposed ordinances and resolutions must specify the date of its effectivity and a brief explanation justifying its approval… it must be signed by the authors and submitted to the secretary of the Sanggunian who will come up with a report…during its next meeting,” Ombudsman Conchita Carpio-Morales said.

Aguirre was earlier found guilty of dishonesty and fined the equivalent of his salary for six months. The administrative case against Masikip was dismissed in view of his reelection in 2007.

The ombudsman said the charges against Sangguniang Bayan secretary Alejandro Amores were dismissed in view of his death in 2008.