This is an administrative case against Mauro Valenciano, register of deeds for the Province of Albay, arising out of the embezzlement of the sum of four hundred nineteen, pesos and ninety-five Centavos by Pablo R. Leopando, senior clerk and cashier in the office of the respondent, for which act the latter has already been dismissed from the service.

After going over the records of the case, I find that the respondent is guilty of negligence in that he failed to turn over his collection during the month of July to the Insular Treasurer immediately at the end of said month as required by Circular Numbered Forty-nine of the General Land Registration Office, dated May thirteenth, nineteen hundred and twenty-four, in relation to Circular Numbered One hundred forty-nine, dated January twenty-fourth, nineteen hundred and seventeen, of the Auditor General, which negligence rendered possible the misappropriation by his senior clerk of the amount in question. The explanation of the respondent that the delay was due to the pressure of other work is not satisfactory, as it is his first duty to turn over his collection to the Insular Treasurer at the end of each month in preference to his other duties.

In view of the foregoing, and concurring in the recommendation of the Secretary of Justice, the respondent, Mauro Valenciano, register of deeds for the Province of ™ Albay, is hereby suspended from office for a period of ten (10) days without pay, and warned that the commission of a similar offense will be dealt with more severely.

Done at the City of Manila, this twenty-ninth day of December, in the year of Our Lord, nineteen hundred and thirty-nine, and of the Commonwealth of the Philippines, the fifth.


By the President:

JORGE B. VARGAS
Secretary to the President