Administrative Order No. 167




MALACAÑAN PALACE MANILA BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE PHILIPPINES [ ADMINISTRATIVE ORDER NO. 167, October 19, 1951 ] REPRIMANDING PROVINCIAL GOVERNOR ALFREDO M. ABUEG OF PALAWAN This is an administrative case against Provincial Governor Alfredo M. Abueg of Palawan who is charged with misappropriation of public funds, abuse of authority, favoritism, false representations, extravagance, etc. The charges were investigated by the Integrity Board which found them not substantiated with the exception of those treated hereunder. Regarding the charge that the respondent, through false representations, succeeded in collecting P90,000 from the Commission on Elections, the provincial government and the municipal governments of Palawan for supposed services rendered by the launch, “Princess of Palawan”, in distributing and collecting election matters to and from the different municipalities of the province in connection with the 1947 general elections, the Board found that other boats could have been availed of for very much less half of that figure; that he arbitrarily fixed the amount of P90,000 (one-third payable by the National Government, the other third by the province and the remaining third by the various municipalities of Palawan) evidently in order that the indebtedness of the province to the National Government in the sum of P30,00 could be wiped out, as no portion of the respective shares of the province and the municipalities had been paid. It also found that the respondent had likewise arbitrarily charged a highly excessive amount for similar services rendered by the same launch in connection with the 1949 general elections. As to the charge that the respondent had been bringing a government car to Manila for his use, thus entailing heavy expenses for the province which it could not afford the Board found that he had been unreasonably extravagant in the expenditure of public funds, which practice is not in keeping with the austerity program of the Government, especially considering that Palawan has all along depended on the National Government for financial aid in carrying out its governmental functions.1âшphi1 In the light of the foregoing, the Integrity Board recommends that respondent be reprimanded and warned. After carefully going over the record, I fully agree with the findings and recommendation of that body. Wherefore, respondent Alfredo M. Abueg is hereby reprimanded and warned that repetition of similar acts in the future will be dealt with more severely. Done in the City of Manila, this 19th day of October, in the year of Our Lord, nineteen hundred and fifty-one, and of the Independence of the Philippines, the sixth. (Sgd.) ELPIDIO QUIRINO President of the Philippines By the President: (Sgd.) MARCIANO ROQUE Acting Assistant Executive Secretary The Lawphil Project - Arellano Law Foundation