Preliminary probe starts after treasurer in ‘mystery heist’ submits reply

By Dolly Yasa

BACOLOD City – Negros Occidental Provincial Legal Office (PLO) chief Atty. Alberto Nellas Jr. on Tuesday said the preliminary investigation against Isabela town treasurer Nenette Escarda has started after the latter submitted her reply to the show cause order issued by Provincial Administrator Rayfrando Diaz.

Nellas told reporters here that his office received Escarda’s reply on Monday. It was endorsed to the PLO for preliminary investigation to determine if she will be formally charged or not.

Nellas said that while he has read Escarda’s reply, he cannot divulge the details as it is under investigation.

He added that they will resolve the case within 20 days or earlier, noting that Escarda has not attached any documented evidence.

“It’s just a general statement,” he added.

Nellas also said that Escarda is still with the Provincial Treasurer’s Office as she has yet to be formally charged and they will have to determine if she will be preventively suspended.

“We can only issue a preventive suspension once the respondent has been formally charged and if the charge itself is grave in nature,” he added.

Diaz directed the former municipal treasurer of Isabela town to explain some financial discrepancies attributed to her by the Commission on Audit (COA).

The show cause order was issued to Escarda on Jan 31, 2023.

The COA findings pointed to some purported irregularities in cash and accounts entrusted to Escarda when she was still municipal treasurer:

-Collections in the amount of P6,629,146.18 as of January 20, 2023 per cashbook remain undeposited; and

-Cash advances in the total amount of P972,000 remain unliquidated as of the cut-off date.

Escarda hogged the limelight after she reported in a police blotter entry in January 2023 that her house was ransacked and declared as missing Isabela’s municipal funds amounting to P2.6 million in cash and P3.8 million in checks.