Sandigan orders ex-Iriga mayor’s arrest over P31M malversation case

IRIGA CITY, CAMARINES SUR — Former Iriga City Mayor Madelaine Arlene Yorobe Alfelor has been detained while a second former city official was arrested on Tuesday (September 22).

These action happened on the strength of an arrest warrant issued by the Fourth Division of the Sandiganbayan over the alleged 2022 malversation of P31 million in government funds. 

The warrant of arrest was issued in Aug. 26 in relation to Criminal Case No. E-SB-26-CRM-0059 that implicates Alfelor, former supervising administrative officer Ruben Salazar Delos Santos and former city treasurer Jean Aquino Bongon.

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The case involves alleged malversation of public funds or property through falsification of an official document.

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No bail was recommended.

Alfelor is now detained at the Quezon City Female Dormitory after surrendering.

Delos Santos was arrested by the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) at about 1 a.m. on Sept. 22 at 26 Parkview Townhomes in Barangay Moonwalk, Parañaque City.

The warrant directs the police in Iriga City and the municipality of Nabua, the Camarines Sur police provincial office, the CIDG and the National Bureau of Investigation to arrest the former mayor and the two other suspects.

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Authorities were also directed to bring the accused to the Sandiganbayan.

The arrests followed an Office of the Ombudsman resolution finding probable cause to indict Alfelor, Bongon and Delos Santos for malversation of public funds.

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Iriga City Legal Officer Shane Beriña-Imperial said her office received a copy of the Ombudsman resolution on Aug. 24.

The case stemmed from irregularities uncovered in the disbursement and liquidation of P31 million from the Assistance to Individuals in Crisis Situation (AICS) Fund.

Before filing the complaint, the Sangguniang Panlungsod conducted seven legislative inquiries from Aug. 3 to Oct. 11, 2023.

Mayor Wilfredo Rex Oliva said the inquiries found that about 15,000 people listed as beneficiaries of the supposed AICS assistance did not receive the P1,500 to P2,000 indicated in the payrolls.

The city government also discovered allegedly forged signatures of supposed beneficiaries, including some who had already died, Oliva said.

City Administrator Ramon Maharlika Oaferina II said the alleged forgeries occurred before the May 2022 elections.

Vice Mayor Edsel Dimaiwat said Alfelor and the other respondents were invited to the legislative inquiries to give them an opportunity to explain their alleged involvement but they failed to appear.

Oliva said the alleged anomaly was discovered in March 2023, when he was serving as officer in charge after Alfelor was suspended by the Ombudsman over the graft complaints.

The questioned funds came from the Gender and Development (GAD) budget, which is intended to support programs and projects focused on gender advocacy and women’s empowerment.

Government agencies and local government units are required to allocate at least 5 percent of their annual budgets for GAD programs, projects and activities.

In finding probable cause, the Ombudsman considered the circumstances surrounding the release and handling of the funds, questioned payrolls and liquidation documents, and Notices of Suspension issued by the Commission on Audit.

The resolution dismissed for lack of merit the charges of falsification by a public officer, fraud against the public treasury, failure of an accountable officer to render accounts, and illegal use of public funds or property against all the respondents. 

Other charges against former city administrator Elvin Vidal Mabansay and administrative aide Jose Kenneth Marmol Serrano were also dismissed.

Alfelor served as Iriga City mayor for three terms.

She ran for representative of the fifth district of Camarines Sur in 2022 but lost to Miguel Luis “Migz” Villafuerte.

Beriña-Imperial stressed that the Ombudsman resolution was a finding of probable cause and not a judgment of guilt.

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She added that the respondents remained entitled to due process and all remedies available under the law. /apl