Former head of the Bohol Poverty Reduction Management Office (BPRMO), now Carmen Municipal Councilor Primo Digao, admitted before the probe team Tuesday last week that he had used P140,000 from the P200,000 shortage that BPRMO had incurred as unaccounted funds.
Digao admitted he used the P140,000 to finance his campaign activities for last year's May elections. He landed at seventh slot in Carmen's set of municipal councilors.
This corroborated the earlier testimony of BPRMO special disbursing officer Patricia Limboy during the preliminary meeting of the probe team on March 7, that part of the amount representing the P200,000 shortage in the fund entrusted to her was withdrawn by Digao shortly before he retired, hinting that it was the money used to finance his campaign.
The March 18 hearing was the probe team's first interaction with Digao as one of the resource persons in the P2-million coop fund mess, following the preliminary meeting on March 7.
Before the start of the hearing, Digao asked the probe team to close the meeting from media.
Limboy and Digao issued statements supported with notes, but failed to show any receipt nor signatures- -a stance that had already been denied by the Commission on Audit (COA).
Governor Erico Aumentado created the team to investigate on the alleged loss of cooperative funds amounting to more than P2 million, BPRMO fund shortage of P200,000 and anomalous 10-percent cut on the provincial government's assistance to coops.
Provincial Legal Officer Handel Lagunay chairs the probe team, while the members are HRMDO Acting Head Romeo Teruel Assistant Provincial Treasurer Primitiva Ontong and Provincial Accountant Joseth Celocia.
news source: Bohol Sunday Post
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