A TOWN councilor in Mexico, Pampanga has been charged before a local court for falsification of public document following the discovery of fabricated educational credentials that he submitted for his promotion when he was still working at the municipal government prior to becoming an elective official.
Rex De Leon Calma was charged before the municipal trial court of the Third Judicial Region in Mexico-San Luis, Pampanga on October 21 this year based on the complaint filed by one Jonathan Pangan.
In a two-page resolution, Associate Provincial Prosecutor Mayda Lintag-Ursua held that while Calma was still employed at the municipal government of Mexico, he “willfully, unlawfully, and feloniously falsified or cause to be falsified” his Personal Data Sheet (PDS), or Civil Service Form No. 212, by “making untruthful narration of facts” that he studied and graduated from the Holy Angel University in Angeles City also in Pampanga with a Degree of Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from 1991 to 1995.
“In truth and in fact, he did not graduate from such university with such degree from those relevant years,” the resolution stated.
It added that “in truth and in fact, said accused very well knew that he attended Holy Angel University as a transferee from Central Luzon Technical Institute of Technology to continue his degree in Bachelor of Science in Hospitality Management from 1996 to 1999, to the damage and prejudice of the municipality of Mexico, Pampanga in an undetermined amount of money,” it added.
The resolution recommended a bail of P36,000 for Calma’s temporary liberty.
In his complaint, Pangan alleged that Calma used the “falsified” documents to secure a second-level civil service eligibility in 2014, while serving as a Sanggunian member.
The Civil Service Commission Region 3 has since revoked this eligibility upon learning of the falsification.
Despite several opportunities, Calma failed to submit his counter-affidavit to the complaint, even after he and his lawyer attended the preliminary investigation of the case.
With this, Lintag-Ursua found prima facie evidence to charge Calma under Article 172 of the Revised Penal Code for falsification by a public employee without taking advantage of his position.
