Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) Secretary Mark A. Villar has relieved from assignment the District Engineer caught in a video footage allegedly doing an anomalous transaction with a contractor of a road project in the province of Ifugao.
In a memorandum dated November 14, 2018, Secretary Villar ordered District Engineer Lorna T. Ricardo to immediately vacate her post as district engineer of DPWH Abra District Engineering Office pursuant to the “Preventive Suspension” rule of the Revised Rules on Administrative Cases in Civil Service.
District Engineer Ricardo was further instructed to report to the DPWH Central Office pending the conduct of appropriate administrative investigation over her alleged malfeasance.
The order was issued after Presidential Anti – Corruption Commission (PACC) Commissioner Greco Belgica showed at a press conference a video of Engineer Ricardo allegedly asking monetary favors from a contractor in exchange for the awarding of the Lagawe-Caba-Ponghal Road Development Project.
Secretary Villar also enjoined the Internal Affairs Division of the Legal Service – the office mandated to conduct the thorough investigation – to practice impartiality throughout the process and remain true to the Department’s endeavor to rid of erring officials from the bureaucracy.