Local News: Complaints Filed vs City Government Officials Not Dismissed (Part I)
Complaints related to graft and corruption filed against Bacolod City Mayor Evelio Leonardia and Vice Mayor Jude Thaddeus Sayson, city councilors and executive officers in the past several years under the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act are still being heard, investigated or considered by the Deputy Ombudsman for the Visayas, several copies of a letter which are in response to the query of whistleblower, Sarah Teresa Esguerra from the national Ombudsman, and also from Deputy Ombudsman for the Visayas, Pelagio Apostol showed.
The response to her queries (Esguerra) by Asryman Rafanan and Apostol himself, was furnished this reported by Esguerra yesterday.
It is not quite true as previously claimed by legal counsels of Leonardia, that the complaints she had herself filed were dismissed by the Supreme Court.
Only one complaint had been dismissed, said Esguerra, which is of no moment as she had filed 24 administrative and criminal charges against Leonardia, Sayson City councilors belonging to the majority party and other appointive city government functionaries who technically were ordered by these officials to sign the documents. It has now come out that former and now resigned Ombudsman for Luzon, Mark Jalandoni had not succeeded in dismissing these complaints as earlier bruited about, Esguerra pointed out.
The complaints had been refiled or reinstated, said Esguerra in an interview at a venue with this writer, yesterday.
On the various cases which are not over yet, the respondents have either been ordered by a now chastened Apostol to answer it or have informed the complainants, Esguerra, that these are still being evaluated, investigated by the Deputy Ombudsman for the Visayas or are still being evaluated.
Earlier, Esguerra had been told some of the papers were missing or that it was dismissed. The response from Asyrman Rafanan, Ombudsman Conchita Morales-Carpio assistant was specific and because it was immediately referred by the national Ombudsman to Apostol elicited a definitive response from the Deputy Ombudsman for the Visayas, Apostol.
In her first letter dated October 17, 2011, to Conchita Carpio-Morales already an appointee of President Benigno Aquino III, Esguerra related that she had filed a slew of complaints against Leonardia, Vice Mayor Thaddy Sayson and against various councilors and appointive officials years back. The monetary value she had cited and the violation of laws, amounted to hundreds of millions of pesos.
Not having response and knowing after then that former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s term that Mark Jalandoni had purportedly dismissed the cases when he was not authorized to do so, Esguerra filed before Malacañang, betrayal of public trust, culpable violation of the constitution, grave misconduct and falsification of public documents against Jalandoni, including dishonesty. Jalandoni, a son of Western Visayas and numbers game czar, immediately resigned from the Ombudsman.
Although she was happy at Jalandoni’s departure from the Ombudsman, she became saddened after the numerous complaints and that of her fellow whistleblowers were not attended to. Later, she discovered it was missing from the central file of the Deputy Ombudsman for the Visayas office in Cebu City.
When he checked with Apostol, she was told that several of the missing documents were in the office of Mark Jalandoni.
She said she was quite relieved when a new Ombudsman was appointed by President Aquino to take over Merceditas Gutierrez’ post. She had once more become hopeful that under the new leadership, her complaints could be attended to.
Among the complaints she listed in her letter to the national Ombudsman were the P50-M purchase of furniture and office fixtures for the New Government Center (NGC) filed October 2, 2009; with the winning bidder or supplier not qualified according to the COA and which there has been no action until now, P9,338,747,37 filed by her on April 22, 2009 which were not bidded and violation of RA 9184, per COA findings; various purchases of goods by the Bids and Awards Committee (BAC) for ineligible bidders and ghost suppliers with COA Report to boot in October 27, 2009; P245,049,696.42, which constitutes plunder and which were payments for consultants, contractual and job order casuals in October 27,2009; P270,653,660.25 and which were supposedly payments for traveling expenses, filed by her (Esguerra) on December 17, 2009; P72M for advanced payment for the purchase of gasoline, oil and lubricants filed December 17, 2009; procurement of computers numbering two cases and which were re-docketed; also the 20 percent fund of the Office of the Building Official paid as honorarium to employees and officials in the amount of P3,660,127.66.
In addition, Esguerra had also filed a complaint April 23, 2010, for the purchase of a lot for the urban poor’s relocation. Getting a loan of P250-M from the Philippine Veterans Bank (PVB) without any appropriations ordinance and a complaint filed with the Office of the President on the development of a relocation site without perfected contract as authorized by the City Council in the amount of P100M.
In return, upon the proddings of Rafanan of the national Ombudsman, Deputy Ombudsman for the Visayas, Chief, Pelagio Apostol responded to Esguerra and specifically cited the status of the complaints.
Earlier, Apostol had blamed Virginia Palanca-Santiago for sitting on the complaint.
But Esguerra countered that for some reasons, he (Apostol) did not attend to the cases.*
