Mayor Alfredo Abelardo Benitez confirmed on Thursday, July 27, that Maricar Quiro will serve as officer-in-charge of the City Agriculture Office effective immediately.
City Agriculturist Goldwyn Nifras was placed under a 60-day preventive suspension after a formal charge for grave misconduct was lodged against him.
Nifras was charged for the unauthorized rental of a city government tractor that was donated by the Department of Agriculture’s Philippine Center for Postharvest Development and Mechanization, without the issuance of receipts.
Nifras denied that he rented out the tractor. Payments made by the farmers were for the operator of the tractor, not for rent, and it did not go to him, Nifras said.*