ILOILO CITY - About 40 barangay captains of this city are pressing for the resolution of a graft complaint they filed against the national officers of the Liga ng mga Barangay involving around P31.2 million.

The complainants led by Lorenzo Castellano of Barangay Ortiz here lamented the slow pace of the case which remains at the investigation stage nearly a year and half after it was filed.

Twenty barangay captains filed the complaint on Dec. 13, 2005 before the Iloilo City Prosecutors Office against the members of the national board of the Liga ng mga Barangay. Another 20 of them filed a separate but similar complaint soon after. In their six-page complaint, the barangay captains accused the Liga officers of malversation of public funds, usurpation of authority and violation of Republic Act 3019 (Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act).

They said the national officers of the league committed the offenses when they withheld the release of P744 for each barangay which was part of their share in the Local Government Service Equalization Fund (LGSEF) for the year 2001.

Named respondents were the Liga national officers including James Marty Lim (President), Mario Eduardo Ortega (Vice President for Luzon), Natalio Beltran III (Treasurer), Angel Briones (Secretary), Abdurahman Nuno (Vice President for Mindanao), Jonah Pedro Pimentel (Secretary General), Leonides Fausto (Auditor) and Rufino Panagan (Director).

Marietta Orleans, president of the Iloilo City chapter of the Liga ng mga Barangay was included as one of the respondents for her alleged refusal to act on the complaint of the barangay captains.

Castellano said they became aware of the withholding of the P744 for each barangay in 2004 after they were informed that each barangay will receive P10,744 each from Department of Budget and Management (DBM).

But he said they were surprised when the DBM released only P10,000 to each barangay.

When they asked the DBM and Commission on Audit why only P10,000 was released, they were informed that this was due to a resolution of the Liga National dated January 21, 2004 directing DBM to release P10,000 to each barangay.

The resolution directed the DBM to deposit the balance to the Liga ng Barangay National through Barangay Dos in Gasan town, Marinduque as local government conduit. Barangay Dos is Lim's barangay.

In their complaint, the barangay captains said withholding the amount of P744 from each barangay and refusal to release it despite their demands clearly constitutes misappropriation of the said amount.

"P744 is a small amount for a barangay but 31 million is certainly a big amount which should be accounted," Castellano said in an interview. In a letter to Iloilo Rep. Raul Gonzalez Jr. dated Sept. 20, 2005, COA chair Guillermo Carague said the issue had become moot and academic after the Supreme Court issued a ruling on May 27, 2004 that declared the distribution and release of the LGSEF as "constitutionally impermissible."

The High Court's decision (The Province of Batangas vs. Alberto Romulo et. al., ) said the LGSEF is part of the Internal Revenue Allotment (IRA) share and should be automatically released to barangays and not at the discretion of the Oversight Committee of Congress.

In a separate letter to Gonzalez dated September 7, 2004, DBM regional director Nilo Buot said the reduction of the released amount was in response to letter of Lim dated January 19, 2004 and Liga Board Resolution No. 15 which said that only P10,000 will be released to each barangay. The balance of P744 for each barangay shall be used to fund the programs and projects of the barangays as initiated by the National Liga ng mga Barangay.

The respondents have denied the allegations.

In their counter-affidavit filed in March 2006, the respondents said the Supreme Court ruling came out four months after they passed the resolution directing the release of the P10,000 to each barangay.

They also questioned why the complainants were complaining of the P744 for each barangay when the release of the LGSEF was ruled as unconstitutional by the Supreme Court.

They also questioned why the DBM was excluded in the complaint and why it was filed in Iloilo City.

"The fact, however, that the instant complaint was filed in Iloilo and DBM was wittingly excluded, are clear manifestations of the malicious intent of the complainants and that this is a mere harassment suit," the respondents said in their counter-affidavit.

The complaint remains unresolved until now after it was assigned to three prosecutors.

It was first assigned to prosecutor Peter Baliao but he asked to be inhibited after he was reassigned to another post.

City Prosecutor Efrain Baldago assigned the case to prosecutor Gaspar Elvas on January 3, 2006 but Elvas asked to be inhibited from the case.

It was again assigned to prosecutor Emerald Contreras om Feb. 3, 2006.

Antonio Pesina, legal counsel of the barangay captains, said he will file a motion for early resolution

Contreras and Baldago are in Boracay attending a national convention of prosecutors and could not be reached for comment.*NPB

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