By Elijah Joseph C. Tubayan, Reporter
THE DEPARTMENT of Finance (DoF) has dismissed five Customs officials in the first eight months of the year, over “false declarations” in their Statements of Assets, Liabilities and Networth (SALN), and penalized more from other revenue agencies over administrative violations.
This is in compliance with orders from the Office of the Ombudsman and the Civil Service Commission (CSC), after the successful prosecution of cases.
A statement by the DoF on Wednesday cited its Revenue Integrity Protection Service (RIPS) as saying that five Bureau of Customs employees made “false declaration” in their SALNs.
Headed by Finance Undersecretary Bayani H. Agabin, RIPS conducts regular lifestyle checks on DoF officials, including those in attached agencies like the BoC and the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR).
Customs Operations Officers Uthman Mamadra and Rosalinda Mamadra were found guilty of serious dishonesty and grave misconduct for their failure to declare a complete, true and detailed inventory of their real properties in Parañaque City, Cavite and Mindoro Occidental; 12 pieces of firearms, and several motor vehicles, in their SALNs for the years 2003-2012.
They were barred from holding public office, forfeited of their retirement benefits, and were slapped with the accessory penalties.
SALNs are a mandatory declaration by government officials of all their properties and liabilities in a given year and are required to be renewed every year.
Delia Morala, Customs Operations Officer V of the BOC, was also slapped the same penalties after failing to declare real properties in Manila and Pangasinan, as well as her husband’s business interests in private corporations.
The DoF also said BoC Special Agent I Orlando Sangid, was dismissed from the service and meted with accessory penalties for misdeclaring several real properties, motor vehicles and business interests in his SALNs from 2004 to 2014.
Guillermo Roxas, Customs Security Guard II, was dismissed from the service with the accessory penalties of forfeiture of retirement benefits and perpetual disqualification from holding public office over his “failure to secure the necessary travel authority for his trips abroad and failure to declare certain assets and business interests in his SALN from 2003 to 2014,” as well as “willfully disregarding established rules, and falsifying his daily time record for September 2014.”
Meanwhile, Pangasinan municipal treasurer Loida Cancino and her husband Norberto Cancino, a municipal engineer, were suspended for six months and one day and meted a fine of P5,000, after they were “found administratively liable for less serious dishonesty.”
Former Revenue Officer III Zenia Astorga was also ordered to pay a P3,000 fine for conflict of interest between her position and her business interests, a year after she retired.
“Four other employees from the BoC and two from the BIR were found administratively liable of the lesser offense of simple neglect of duty and meted the penalty of suspension from service for one to three months, aside from facing criminal indictments. Two other employees from BoC and BIR were reprimanded,” the DoF said.
Last year, RIPS investigated a total of 104 cases against suspected erring officials and employees under the DoF.

RELATED ARTICLESMORE FROM AUTHOR