Lawyer urges City to follow up case on SRP cannon

Tuesday, December 6, 2011

A LAWYER is urging the Cebu City Government to follow up a 2003 letter-request he made for a client, and find out what happened to an antique cannon that Rep. Tomas Osmeña allegedly ordered brought to his house.

The six-ton cannon, believed to be from the 18th century, was unearthed at the South Road Properties (SRP).

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Atty. Kit Enriquez, in an interview with Sun.Star Cebu, said he does not know what happened to the complaint because the anti-graft office, to whom he addressed the letter-complaint, never wrote back to him.

If the agency wrote directly to his client, Enriquez said, the latter also didn’t give him any updates.

“The city is in a better position to do this because it has the legal personality.

Maybe they dismissed our letter-complaint because we didn’t have any legal personality to inquire,” Enriquez said.

Confidential

Assistant Ombudsman Virginia Santiago, when asked for updates on the eight-year-old docket, refused to give any, citing the confidential nature of fact-finding investigations.

“Our investigations are discreet,” she said, adding that questions are better left for the parties concerned to answer.

Basan Amora, in his capacity as taxpayer, signed the letter-complaint that was addressed to then Deputy Ombudsman Primo Miro, who has since retired and was replaced by Deputy Ombudsman Pelagio Apostol.

In the letter, Amora asked the anti-graft office to require Osmeña, then Cebu City mayor, to explain why he had the cannon brought to his house instead of being
displayed for the public to see, like any other important artifact.

The cannon, Amora said, was originally brought to the Rizal Public Library and Museum and displayed. However, Osmeña allegedly had the cannon taken by five employees of the city’s traffic body and brought to his house in Guadalupe on a holiday.

He questioned the mayor’s motives. While the mayor reasoned that removing it from the museum was for public safety, as the cannon had a cannon ball inside, Amora, in his complaint, stressed that the cannon was never brought to a facility where it can be checked.

By accident

The artillery piece was found by accident during the construction of the South Coastal Road as part of the implementation of the South Reclamation Project. It was brought to the museum, which is run by the Cebu Historical Affairs Commission (Chac).

When asked to comment why he took possession of the antique from Chac days after the Nov. 30 pull-out, Osmeña assured he will return the item once it is mounted on a frame.

He said he asked a commissioner of Chac, Jaime Picornel, to look for or design an appropriate mount for the artillery piece, adding that he wants it put back where it was found, the SRP.

He confirmed that he placed it in his garden but that he had it sealed.

A year later, on Dec. 2004, the Chac noted that no formal explanation reached them regarding the incident.