Posted on August 19, 2025
CABANATUAN CITY – Nueva Ecija Gov. Aurelio Umali was meted a one-year suspension without pay by the Office of the Ombudsman over alleged issuance of quarry permits without passing through proper agency and despite lack of environmental compliance certificates.
In a 29-page decision signed by Deputy Ombudsman for Visayas and OIC Dante Vargas on July 3, 2025, the Ombudsman found Umali “guilty of conduct prejudicial to the best interest of the service and simple misconduct.”
His wife, former Gov. Czarina Umali, along with other respondents former provincial environment and natural resources officer Wilfredo Pangilinan, as well as Danilo Uykieng, Lope Carin̈o, Jr., Samuel Paragas, and Alilo Ensomo, Jr., all of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources-Mines and Geosciences Bureau Central Luzon were cleared because they were no longer in service when the complaints were filed on Apr. 4, 2024, the consolidated decision said.
The cases, OMB-C-A-APR-24-0029 and OMB-C-A-OCT-24-0095, stemmed from the complaints filed by a certain Roberto Duldulao and the results of investigation of the Field Investigation Office (FIO) of the Office of the Ombudsman, respectively.
Duldulao’s complaint cited the Memorandum Committee Report 967 issued on Nov. 27, 2018 by the House of Representatives’ Committee on Good Government and Accountability which reportedly showed that spouses Umali, during their respective terms, granted 205 commercial sand and gravel permits (CSGPs) “to unqualified permittees without the required environmental compliance certificate (ECC)” from the DENR-EMB.
“Spouses Umali merely required the submission of Local Environment Clearance Certificate (LECC), instead of the ECC, as a prerequisite to the grant and issuance of CSGPs,” said the report, which is a result of 2018 congressional inquiries.
The Ombudsman’s FIO, on the other hand, showed that spouses Umali granted permits to some 108 contractors from 2014 to 2018, all upon the recommendation of Pangilinan.
“Records from the DENR Region 3 reveal that among the issued permits, 35 quarry operators have no records of ECCs submitted for the years 2014 – 2018,” and the DENR officials “did not do anything to stop the illegal issuance of quarry permits by the PGNE (provincial government of Nueva Ecija” the FIO alleged.
For their part, spouses Umali said, among others, that Duldulao’s complaint was hearsay and based only on what transpired during the hearings of House Resolution 1505 of the 17th Congress.
They also said CSGPs were different from quarry permits. The former being governed by Sections 43 to 45 and the latter by Section 46 of RA 7942 (Philippine Mining Act of 1995), they argued.
In concluding, the Ombudsman found that the incumbent governor “was remiss in his duty to ensure the enforcement and compliance with all laws, rules and regulations within his jurisdiction.”
“His inaction, or nonchalance, despite the information from the DENR-MGB on 25 August 2015 about the reconstitution of the PMRB (Provincial Mining Regulatory Board) pursuant to DENR Special Order No. 2015-839 dated 14 August 2015 tends to undermine people’s faith and confidence in the government,” the Ombudsman said.
The Ombudsman recalled that the PMRB is responsible for reviewing applications for quarry permits and CGSPs, and ensuring compliance with mining laws and regulations before recommending approval of the applications. This, the Ombudsman added, is to ensure that environmental protection measures are in place even as ultimately, the provincial governor makes the final decision.
The DILG has yet to implement the suspension order.
