Capitol officials given 10 days to file reply

CEBU, Philippines - The Office of the Ombudsman has ordered Cebu Governor Gwendolyn Garcia, members of the Cebu Provincial Board led by Vice Governor Gregorio Sanchez, Jr. and other Capitol officials and employees involved in the alleged anomalous purchase of the Balili property to submit their counter-affidavits.

In an order dated March 16, the Preliminary Investigation and Administrative Adjudication Bureau (PARB) of the anti-graft body has ordered the Capitol officials and employees to file their answers to the complaint within 10 days upon receipt.

The order signed by PARB director Mary Antonette Yalao was received by the Capitol officials the other day. Capitol consultant and spokesperson Rory Jon Sepulveda said that Garcia will issue her statement today as she was in Bantayan Island yesterday while acting Vice-Governor Agnes Magpale called a closed-door meeting with present and previous PB members involved in the transaction.

Former PB member and now Capitol consultant Jose Maria Gastardo said that this is the time the respondents are given the chance to answer the complaint and there is no case filed yet.

PB Member Julian Daan disclosed that they have agreed to ask for 15 days to answer the complaint. Sanchez, who is still in the hospital, will be represented by his consultant Lawyer Oliveros Kintanar.

The order states that “No motion to dismiss shall be allowed except for lack of jurisdiction. Neither shall a motion for bill of particulars and similar dilatory motion shall be entertained.”

“Only one motion for reconsideration or reinvestigation of an approved Resolution or Order in a criminal case shall be allowed, the same to be filed within five days from receipt thereof with the office of the Ombudsman,” it further states. 

The Public Assistance and Corruption Prevention Office of the Ombudsman Visayas found basis to upgrade into criminal and administrative cases an anonymous complaint filed against Garcia, Sanchez and the members of the PB over the purchase of the more than 20-hectares Balili property in Barangay Tinaan Naga City.

Related complaints from private complainants Manuel T. Manuel and Crisologo Saavedra were later consolidated in the anonymous complaint.

In an evaluation report released November last year, the anti-graft body said the government paid P78.6 million for submerged lands. Capitol paid a total of P99 million for the 24.9-hectare property.

The evaluation report said the governor ought to face a criminal case for entering into a contract “which is manifestly and grossly disadvantageous to the government.” This violates Section 3(g) of Republic Act 3019, or The Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act.

“She did try to determine the appraisal value (of the property), but did not mind the land’s physical attributes. It would appear that the governor was only concerned with the purchase price of the transaction,” said Graft Prevention and Control Officer Roderick Blazo in his 31-page report.

Sepulveda earlier said the recommendation gives provincial officials an opportune time to freely and fully present their side on the controversy and that they are very confident that once they present their side, there will be no criminal case filed against the governor.

Sepulveda said everything was in order when the Capitol purchased the property in 2008 because it had clean titles, a PB resolution and a report from the appraisal committee.

Blazo recommended a separate criminal case for gross inexcusable negligence against the governor, vice governor and 12 Provincial Board (PB) members over the absence of a feasibility study and “a thorough verification of the area to be purchased, taking into consideration the huge amount involved.”

However, no administrative case can be filed against the governor, vice governor and reelected members of the PB, because of the Aguinaldo Doctrine, which clears reelected officials of any administrative liabilities.

The PB members at the time of the Balili land purchase in 2008 were Agnes Magpale, Victor Maambong, Peter John Calderon, Julian Daan, Wilfredo Caminero, Jose Ma. Gastardo, Rose Marie Durano, Joven Mondigo Jr., Wenceslao Gakit, Alfred Francis Ouano, Teresita Celis and Bea Mercede Calderon.

Bolo and nine others will be charged separately for allegedly “conspiring and confederating with each other in the purchase of a land which is classified as timberland”.

Also ordered to file counter-affidavits are the appraisal committee members Anthony Sususco, Roy Salubre and Eulogio Pelayre; the technical working group Mariflor Vero, Michelle Languido, Roger Dumayac, Pilar Yburan; and private individuals Romeo and Amparo Balili. (FREEMAN)