Ombudsman weakest link in anti-graft fight

Grumbling has sparked anew at the Customs bureau, this time against its new police chief. Supposedly Nestorio Gualberto was one of departing President Gloria Arroyo’s midnight appointees in March 2010. Thus, Customs insiders protest, he should be dismissed instead of being given two powerful concurrent positions in law enforcement.

A retired cop, Gualberto was named this month as replacement of erstwhile Customs police boss Jose Yuchongco. The Ombudsman had the latter dismissed weeks earlier for unexplained wealth. Gualberto is facing the same charge with the Ombudsman.

Gualberto as the same time heads the Customs enforcement and security service, to which the police chief reports. The concomitant appointments can be viewed either as streamlining or over-concentrating power on one man.

Gualberto’s instatement as ESS chief last February 14 was itself contentious. Insiders allege that he misrepresented himself to get around President Noynoy Aquino’s dismissal of Arroyo’s midnight appointees. Purportedly he claimed that Arroyo made him ESS boss on March 9, 2010, two days before the ban on appointments by a departing President. But records show that he had assumed office on March 31, 2010. This is well within the ban, and so covered by Aquino’s rescinding order.

Circulating at the Manila ports is a certification of former Customs chief Napoleon Morales to the Customs personnel division. Sent March 31, 2010, and received April 6, 2010, it states: “This is to certify that Gen. Nestorio B. Gualberto (Ret.) whose appointment was duly approved by Her Excellency, President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, as Director III (SG-27), Enforcement and Security Service, Enforcement Group, this Bureau, vice Nicasio J. Radovan Jr., has assumed the duties and responsibilities of his position on March 31, 2010. Signed, Napoleon L. Morales, Commissioner.”

Gualberto was one of Customs’ main players during the heady Arroyo tenure. First named ESS head in November 2004, he held on till January 2008. He was reappointed October 2009. In between, in August 2006, the Ombudsman charged him with failure to declare assets during his last six years in the police service. Also, for failure later to declare six prime lands in Batangas and an SUV.

He was first dismissed in August 2010 as a midnight appointee, but wangled a reversal last February.

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This is a lament from a reader in Malabon City, Metro Manila. She wants answers from the authorities to her plain citizen’s questions:

“I, Dr. Gaudelia P. Javier, 56, has been residing on Arellano Street since I was 5. I started practicing dentistry in 1976 at the same address — near the City Hall, St. James Academy, San Bartolome Church, and the local cemetery — in the heart of town.

“Now after all these years we have a big problem. Our parish priest, Fr. Ric Torrefiel, is constructing a crematorium in the churchyard. People signed our petition against it. Copies were given to the mayor, vice mayor, councilors, and city engineer. A meeting with the mayor was arranged last September. He said if the Dept. of Environment and Natural Resources does not grant a permit, he too would not give one. We were confident that a DENR permit would not be granted, given the location of the proposed crematorium. Allies advised us that getting a DENR environment clearance certificate (ECC) is difficult. This was confirmed when the priest sent an emissary to explain to us how the crematorium would operate.

“To our surprise the mayor granted a building permit. Days ago we saw the smokestack being put up. An ECC had been given (Reference Code: ECC-NCR-1011-0416)! We could only cry in frustration. I feel the need to be protected from these people who were supposed to protect me.

“Questions need answering: Is the foreigner undertaking the construction, Ms. Jung Hee Kyung, legally allowed to work in the Philippines? Does she have the right to engage in such activity? Why was an ECC granted without consulting the residents? Don’t they need a clearance from the Dept. of Health too?”

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The Ombudsman is the weakest link in the fight against corruption. This is seen once more in the Sandiganbayan’s dismissal of the celebrated Chingkoe plunder raps. The anti-graft court noted that Ombudsman prosecutors failed to prove one basic. That is, the conspiracy of the Chingkoe couple, in multibillion-peso tax-credit scam, with co-accused finance officials. From inability to connect the two, the case collapsed. It’s obvious bungling, moaned former special prosecutor Dennis Villa-Ignacio.

Earlier the Senate Blue Ribbon body exposed the Ombudsman to be negligent in nailing thieving military comptrollers. Maj. Gen. Carlos Garcia was allowed to plea-bargain, from P303-million plunder to mere bribery and abetting money laundering. In this the agency allowed him P60,000-bail without first ensuring his return of the loot, “discounted” to P135 million. It did not demand the return of P128 million that Garcia withdrew from a dozen banks before the filing of formal charges. In Lt. Gen. Jacinto Ligot’s case, the Ombudsman ignored for forfeiture P740 million that the Anti-Money Laundering Council reported as looted.

There is need for Congress to audit the performance of the Ombudsman, and for Malacañang to evaluate the prosecutors.

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Lourdes School Quezon City Batch of ’71 reunion: March 19, 2011, 7 p.m., Corinthian Gardens Clubhouse. Attire: casual. Bring along your significant other. For the damage, and contributions of raffle prizes and drinks, call: Eddie Salonga, (0917) 5345392; Lito Carlos, (0917) 4561428; Pepelu Zabala, (0922) 8008848.

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Catch Sapol radio show, Saturdays, 8-10 a.m., DWIZ, (882-AM).

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E-mail: [email protected]