Former legislator charged with fraud

Manila: A former legislator who was once forced by President Gloria Arroyo to quit a government post for alleged graft, and three others were accused yesterday of illegally withdrawing funds from a local Red Cross branch.

They are accused of hauling off donation bags and cans containing 300,000 pesos in coins.

Former Quezon City congressman Dante Liban and the three others were charged with robbery, theft and fraud before a regional trial court by Philippine National Red Cross-Quezon City chapter administrator Annie Domingo Torres. Also charged with Liban were former PNRC-QC Director Reynaldo Bernardo while theft charges were filed against Jenny Esquillo, chapter representative of the Red Cross Youth, and a robbery case against Junjun Sodario.

In her complaint, Torres said Liban and Bernardo allegedly misrepresented themselves to be the chairman and the treasurer respectively and recognised by the head office to withdraw the amount of 500,000 pesos from the bank account of the PNRC-QC on August 25 this year.

On the same false pretences, Liban and Bernardo again were able to withdraw the amount of 500,000 pesos and 10 million pesos from the bank account of PNRC-QC on September 15 without authority from PNRC.

Records disclosed that the respondents conducted a meeting to elect PNRC-QC Board of Governors on June 29, 2006 but the PNRC did not authorise the meeting and the election that followed.

The PNRC Board of Governors by a unanimous vote expelled Liban from the Red Cross on August 31.

In 2003, Arroyo accepted the resignation of Liban, who was then a director general of the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA), a government office in charge of training Filipinos for overseas jobs following allegations of graft regarding the issuance of the Artists‚ Record Book (ARB).

On the robbery case, Torres said at about 5pm on September 18, she was informed that Bernardo and Sodario forcibly opened her office located at the QC Hall compound, Civic Centre and took various bags and donation cans containing notes and coins given in donations for the PNRC, which were collected from various Metropolitan Train Transit System stations.

The complainant said that the two were able to take a total of 64 bags and 89 cans with an estimated amount of 300,000 pesos.

The complainant added that at about 8pm some of the bags and cans were allegedly loaded into Liban's vehicle.

Theft

When the complainant arrived at the scene, she saw Sodario loading bags and cans into the vehicle of respondent Bernardo.

Esquillo, on the other hand, was charged after she allegedly took out from the office of Torres a central processing unit on September 18, allegedly upon the orders of Liban.