ADMINISTRATIVE ORDER NO. 256, December 23, 1953

WARNING PROVINCIAL TREASURER GREGORIO S. CASTELO OF ISABELA

This is an administrative case against Mr. Gregorio S. Castelo, Provincial Treasurer of Isabela, for his alleged failure to limit and control the funds that should remain in the possession of Mr. Antonio Ligaya, formerly Municipal Treasurer of Echague, Isabela, as a consequence of which the latter was able to malverse the sum of P56,388.56.

Specifically, the charges are: (1) that respondent failed to require Municipal Treasurer Ligaya to submit on time his weekly cash reports despite letters to that effect of the provincial auditor; (2) that the loss to the government could have been minimized had respondent and his personnel given proper attention to the cash reports of the offending treasurer and to the timely submission thereof; (3) that he allowed Mr. Ligaya to withdraw the sums of P8,000 and P9,000 on two occasions without first determining the actual cash then in his hands; and (4) that he merely prescribed the duties of his subordinates without seeing to it that his instructions were followed by them.

After going over the record, I find that the charges, with the exception of the last, have been satisfactorily explained by the respondent.

As regards the last charge, the record show that respondent prescribed the duties of his subordinates under certain special orders issued by him. It does not appear, however, that he made efforts to ascertain whether or not his instructions were being observed by them; otherwise he would have discovered that they were remiss in the discharge of their duties. As provincial treasurer, respondent is in duty bound to examine, personally or through his representative, the cash transactions of his municipal treasurers to enable him to fix the cash reserve limit for them. This could be done by examining the records to determine the collections and payments of the different treasurers. Had he done so, he would have discovered that notwithstanding the substantial amounts deposited from time to time by Mr. Ligaya the subordinates in his office had not taken any step to require Municipal Treasurer Ligaya to deposit his excess cash much oftener than he did, or to increase his bond in an amount commensurate with his collections. Evidently respondent was rather remiss in this respect.

In view of the foregoing, and as recommended by the Secretary of Finance, Mr. Gregorio S. Castelo is hereby warned to be more careful in the discharge of his duties, as commission of similar irregularity in the future will be dealt with more severely.

Done in the City of Manila, the 23rd day of December, in the year of Our Lord, nineteen hundred and fifty-three, and of the Independence of the Philippines, the eighth.

(Sgd.) ELPIDIO QUIRINO

President of the Philippines

By the President:

(Sgd.) MARCIANO ROQUE

Acting Executive Secretary