Maynilad deal: GMA, DOJ execs cleared

The Ombudsman cleared yesterday President Arroyo and two justice officials of plunder and graft charges filed by an opposition senatorial candidate over the government’s alleged bailout of debt-riddled Maynilad Water Services Inc.

In a 20-page fact-finding report prepared by Teresita Butardo-Tacata and approved by Deputy Ombudsman for Luzon Victor Fernandez, the Ombudsman ruled there was "nothing in the records" to show Mrs. Arroyo had a hand in the deal.

The Ombudsman said the complainant, Alyansa ng Pag-asa senatorial candidate Melanio Mauricio Jr., "merely drew conclusions from unreliable sources, the veracity of which has to be ascertained together with the inclusion of President Arroyo whose participation in the case was practically out-of-the-way."

"There is nothing from the case records that would demonstrate the participation of (the President) in the negotiation of the agreement that led to the completion of the controversial Amendment No. 2," the Ombudsman said, referring to the government takeover of the Lopez-owned Maynilad.

The Ombudsman also pointed out that it is "basic and elementary" that for a sitting president to be removed from office, an impeachment complaint must first be initiated at the House of Representatives, which should comply with the grounds stated in the Constitution.

Acting Justice Secretary Merceditas Gutierrez and Undersecretary Manuel Teehankee, who concurrently serves as the chief government corporate counsel, and officials from Maynilad and its parent company Benpres Holdings were also cleared of the charges filed by Mauricio.

The private respondents cleared of plunder charges include ABS-CBN chairman Eugenio Lopez III, Benpres chairman and chief executive officer Oscar Lopez, vice chairman Manuel Lopez, senior adviser Steve Psinakis, directors Felipe Alfonso, Washington Sycip and Vicente Paterno; chief finance officer Angel Ong, corporate secretary Enrique Quiason, and assistant secretary Maria Amina Amado.

In his complaint lodged with the Office of the Ombudsman, Mauricio accused Mrs. Arroyo and the other respondents of deliberately refusing to collect some P8 billion in concession fees from Maynilad and are thus guilty of "conspiring, confederating and confabulating with one another, (and) have unjustly enriched themselves to the damage and prejudice of the Filipino people."

The Ombudsman also said Maynila’s pending "petition for rehabilitation" in the sala of Quezon City Regional Trial Court Branch 90 Judge Reynaldo Daway "tied our hands on the matter" and that issuing a cease-and-desist order will encroach upon judicial authority.

"It would be tantamount to undue interference with the discretion of the court," the Ombudsman said. "Such being the case, prudence dictates that this office should not unduly interfere in the case, for the same would constitute an undue arrogation of judicial power exclusively vested with the court."

The investigators under the Office of the Ombudsman also took Mauricio to task for failing to secure vital documents.

"In other words, there is no evidence to prove that Mauricio exerted earnest efforts to be able to secure copies of the documents," Tacata said.

She found that concerned agencies did not furnish Mauricio with documents because he never sought them in the first place.

Meanwhile, the opposition Koalisyon ng Nagkakaisang Pilipino (KNP) assailed the Arroyo administration for refusing to honor the guarantee it issued on P29-billion worth of loans the cash-strapped National Home Mortgage Finance Corp. (NHMFC) borrowed from the Social Security System between 1988 and 1995, while having no qualms about bailing out the Lopez family.

KNP senatorial candidate Ernesto Herrera said over the weekend that nearly 35 percent or P56 billion of the SSS investment reserve fund went to the housing sector, the limit the law places on SSS housing investments. Of this amount, P29 billion went to the NHMFC for its unified home lending program.

Herrera said that the government required the SSS to prove the NHMFC was insolvent before the agency "can go to the national government to collect the guarantee."

He added that it was unfortunate that the Arroyo administration had shown its "callous indifference" to the 24 million members of SSS but was quick to come to Maynilad’s rescue.

Herrera said the government takeover of Maynilad and the rebuff of SSS are "not unrelated incidents after all. They spoke of Mrs. Arroyo’s selfishness and arrogance."

KNP senatorial candidate Juan Ponce Enrile, for his part, described the Arroyo administration’s alleged bailout of Maynilad as "pandering" to the Lopez family’s avarice.

SSS vice president Maribel Ortiz, on the other hand, earlier quoted government officials as saying the national government was not inclined to honor its guarantees, which can run up to P6.6 billion.