"Corruption is a curse. It is high time to exorcise ghost employees and to purge the ranks of callous officials who employ insidious means for evil ends.”
This was stressed by the Sandiganbayan in its decision that convicted Romeo Chan Reales, former provincial accountant and officer-in-charge of the Provincial Administrator’s Office of Samar, of graft and malversation for hiring ghost employees in 2005.
For graft, Reales was sentenced to a prison term ranging from six to 10 years. For malversation, he was meted out a jail term of two to eight years and a fine of P76,500.
Also, the anti-graft court’s sixth division said that “as civil liability, accused Reales shall further pay to the provincial government of Samar the amount of P76,500 plus interest thereon at the rate of six percent per annum, reckoned from the finality of this decision until the amount malversed is fully paid."
The prosecution said that from Oct. 1 to Nov. 30, 2005, Reales caused undue injury to the Samar provincial government in the amount of P76,500 by approving the disbursement of funds supposedly intended for the wages of job order employees who did not render the services they were contracted for.
"By all accounts, the prosecution had proven its negative allegation that 25 job order workers never actually worked," Associate Justice Kevin Narce B. Vivero said in his 64-page decision.
The decision stated that the Summary of Payrolls and Daily Time Records (DTRs) for the periods Oct. 1 to 31, 2005 and Nov. 1 to 30, 2005 in Catbalogan, Samar all pointed to Reales as the "fraudster who perpetrated the white-collar crime."
It said that Reales took it upon himself to appoint job order personnel even if the authority to do so is vested exclusively on the provincial governor under Republic Act No. 7160, the Local Government Code.
It said that the late Samar Gov. Milagrosa Tan even issued a memorandum stating that Reales' authority to sign or approve documents and papers remained limited to the payroll for salaries and wages; disbursement of vouchers for payments of light, water and telephone subscriptions; and personnel remittances to government offices.
It pointed out that the wordings of the memorandum are "clear and straightforward," and one would be grossly negligent if he still misread it and came up with the conclusion that he had the power to hire job order workers.
The court stressed that Reales failed to come up with a satisfactory explanation why there was a shortage in the accounts, especially since the 25 job order employees were nothing but "ghost names."
“The long arm of the law has caught up with accused Reales, and he must incur the law's wrath."
Associate Justices Sarah Jane T. Fernandez and Karl B. Miranda concurred in the decision.