By Felipe V. Celino
ROXAS CITY, Capiz – Poblacion Sur Sigma, Capiz Sangguniang Kabataan (SK) Chairman John Lynnel Alayon has apologized for stealing and encashing checks from the Brgy. Bangon-bangon SK council in Sigma town, amounting to P97,000.
Alayon also admitted to taking the SK council funds amounting to P300,000 without the knowledge of his treasurer and colleagues.
“I express my sincere public apology for the wrongdoing I have committed. I will not run away and will accept whatever consequences and penalties are imposed upon me,” Alayon said in a radio interview Tuesday morning, July 30.
He said personal needs tempted him to commit the theft. While he did not specify where the money went, he was reportedly involved in online gambling.
The controversy emerged when Carl Niel Villaruz, SK chairman of Brgy. Bangon-bangon in Sigma town, reported to the Sigma Municipal Police Station that Alayon had taken four checks from their SK council on July 10, 2024.
Villaruz discovered the incident on July 9, 2024, when he checked their records at the SK Liga office in preparation for an audit by the Commission on Audit (COA).
Villaruz, accompanied by SK Sigma Federation Bookkeeper Jessica Marie Vargas, went to the Landbank – Dao Office to request the bank statement history of their barangay.
They then proceeded to Landbank in Roxas City to further verify who had encashed the checks.
It was found that two checks, worth P46,800 and P47,500 respectively, were encashed on July 3, 2024. Another check could not be encashed due to insufficient funds.
Alayon was able to encash the two checks by forging Villaruz’s and the SK treasurer’s signatures.
On July 14, 2024, Alayon’s mother went to the office of Punong Barangay Alex Adcan of Barangay Bangon-Bangon to settle her son’s wrongdoing by paying the total amount. The uncashed check was returned to Villaruz.
It was confirmed that Alayon’s family had settled all the checks that the SK chairman encashed.
Alayon is a nephew of the former vice mayor of Sigma.
