This just isn’t her month.
“North Cotabato governor Emmylou ‘Lala’ Taliño-Mendoza, who received flak for her sentiments over the bloody Kidapawan farmers’ dispersal, was indicted by the Ombudsman for graft over an anomalous procurement of fuel purchased from a gas station owned by her mother, Noemi J. Taliño,” reports Marc Jayson Cayabyab on Inquirer.net.
In a statement releaed on Fri, Apr 8, Ombudsman Conchita Carpio Morales said she “found probable cause to charge Mendoza for three counts of graft or violations of Section 3(e) of the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act.”
The report noted: “The Ombudsman said Mendoza authorized the release of PHP2.4 million from the provincial funds to pay for 49,526.72 liters of fuel used for one road grader and four dump trucks utilized during the two-day road rehabilitation projects. But no public bidding was conducted, and instead the provincial government directly contracted for fuel with the gas station owned by Mendoza’s mother.”
In her defense, Mendoza reasoned that only the Taliño Shell Station which was “willing to accommodate the credit term requested by the provincial government.” However, Morales pointed out that “there was no compelling justification for dispensing with the requirement of public bidding.”
The Ombudsman further explained, “The great disparity between the estimated 552 liters of diesel actually consumed for the two-day road maintenance project in [the town of] Magpet vis-à-vis the 20,833 liters actually paid for, is proof that the fuel-purchase transaction is illegal and that this transaction is obviously a scheme to pocket government funds.”
