Ani to Moreno: Spare GMA

Ombudsman Aniano Desierto chided Misamis Oriental Rep. Oscar Moreno yesterday for dragging President Arroyo into what he called the lawmaker’s "misadventures with the truth and the law."

Desierto is chafing at Moreno’s suggestion to the President that she intervene in the P5.3-billion tax credit scam cases involving several former ranking officials of the Department of Finance, two executives from giant oil firms Shell and Petron and the 12 companies owned by the Chingkoes.

"Despite repeated statements from the President herself that she will not interfere in the issue because she respects the Office of the Ombudsman as an independent constitutional body, he continued to make calls for her to intervene," the Ombudsman said in a statement sent to media offices.

He added that as a lawyer Moreno should know that the President cannot meddle in affairs involving separate constitutional offices. For her to do so, he said, could make her liable for impeachment for culpable violation of the Constitution.

"It appears that he now wants the President to bail him out after he painted himself into a corner," the Ombudsman said.

Desierto laughed off claims by the camp of Moreno that he (Desierto) should be blamed for the sudden disappearance of a vital witness in the case for prematurely revealing her identity.

The witness, said to be "a good lead" to strengthen the scam cases, reportedly went into hiding also because she could not be provided enough protection.

"There was no agreement to keep her identity secret because the law requires that the respondents should be confronted with the statements of witnesses and other evidence," Desierto explained.

This is based on the ruling of the Supreme Court in Torralba versus Sandiganbayan as well as the new rules on criminal procedure, he said.

Desierto also categorically disputed all the allegations of Moreno which he described as "distorted and maliciously concocted to gain much needed publicity to prepare for his senatorial ambition or maybe to replace the Ombudsman himself."

On Moreno’s allegations that some of the key players in the scam have been excluded, Desierto said it was a "complete lie" because no one among the respondents has been absolved or exonerated.

"The fact is we are still in the process of preliminary investigation based on the complaints filed by the Fact Finding and Intelligence Bureau and Task Force 156," he said.

Desierto noted that his office received a copy of the complaint on Dec. 13, 2001 after which the OMB Evaluation and Preliminary Investigation Bureau ordered all the respondents on Jan. 11 this year to file their respective counter-affidavits.

He also took issue with Moreno’s recommendation that the filing of the cases against the 12 companies owned by the Chingkoes should be done on a piecemeal basis instead of in a consolidated manner as his office has adopted.

"He should know that had we followed his line of thought the result could even be more disadvantageous for the government," he said.

"The plunder law is clear that only one plunder can be committed by a public officer during his term for him to be culpable, which we also applied in the case of Erap," Desierto explained.

"It follows that if we file a case against one firm at a time, then it will mean forever excluding the 11 other firms under the Chingkoe group. I think we are not as ignorant as Moreno," he pointed out.

He revealed that unknown to many, the Office of the Ombudsman has already filed before the Sandiganbayan 175 tax credit scam cases amounting to some P5 billion against other companies and persons including oil company executives.

Desierto also strongly objected to the insinuations of Moreno that money could have changed hands during a supposed meeting between him and the oil executives to explain why their names were not included in the list of respondents.

"I categorically deny that crap. I did not have any meeting with any official from those companies, much more accept money from them," he bristled.

"If he is a real crusader and not a publicity seeker, I reiterate my challenge to him to repeat his claims out the halls of Congress where he is not covered by the cloak of parliamentary immunity," the Ombudsman said.