ANTIPOLO City, Rizal – Amid reports of corruption and lavish lifestyle, the provincial governor sacked a top provincial government official.
In a one-page Memorandum dated January 11, 2024, Rizal Gov. Nina Ricci Ynares designated three different persons to take over the Provincial General Services Office, replacing Connie de Leon who was placed in a “floating status” pending the result of an internal investigation.
“As the interest of the service so requires, the following are hereby directed to assume the duties and responsibilities appertaining their new designation in the Office of the Provincial General Services Office effective immediately upon receipt hereof,” reads the governor’s memorandum.
Named to replace de Leon are Peter Dominique Ynares III who has been designated as Officer-in-Charge, Gizelle Arcilla as head of the procurement division and Amie Ingco as head of the supplies and inventory division.
De Leon, who has been working for the provincial government for decades, assumed the top GSO post following the death of Jun Arcilla who died of COVID-19 infection in 2020.
Two Taytay Mayors
According to sources, de Leon was relieved over allegations of corruption reported to the governor by private suppliers claiming to have been made to shell out what they referred to as “advanced SOP” covering transactions at the municipal government of Taytay. Her younger brother Allan de Leon is the municipal mayor of Taytay.
Interestingly, local netizens have started making fun of the fate of the local chief executive’s older sister.
“Sa lahat ng mga gustong makakuha ng project sa Munisipyo ng Taytay, kontratista, kontraktor, supplier at gusto mamuhunan ng project. Lumapit lang po kayo sa Ate/Kuya ni Mayor Allan De Leon, si Ate/Kuya Connie De Leon, isa sa mga Mayor ng Bayan ng Taytay,” reads part of the caption of the Facebook post which had her photo on it.
The Usual Suspect
Even before the female de Leon was sacked, she was previously accused of cornering procurement contracts in the Taytay Municipal Government, using various trading companies as dummies.
Most of the supply deals are reportedly overpriced, including 30 units of basic office printers which purchased at the cost of P13,250 apiece, bullet-proof curtain that was paid for by the local government to the tune of P179,000, China-made trucks and the highly controversial walis-tingting which costs P85 each.
In all these transactions, the older de Leon has been dragged as the brain behind what has been described by local folks as highly-anomalous – “Hence, the need for the Office of the Ombudsman to step in.”
Lifestyle Check
A lifestyle check, according to the website of the Office of the Ombudsman, is an “investigation strategy developed by anti-corruption agencies to determine the existence of ill-gotten and unexplained wealth” of government officials and employees.
Unexplained wealth, according to the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act, "is an amount of property and/or money manifestly out of proportion to [an official's] salary and to other lawful income."
The Office of the Ombudsman and the National Bureau of Investigation are empowered to conduct the lifestyle check on public officials, but the two agencies refused to elaborate on the processes of the lifestyle check without a formal letter request sent to the head of their agencies.
Sacked Rizal Provincial GSO chief Taytay Mayor Allan de Leon
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