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Wednesday, March 31, 2004
John-john’s campaign chief asks governor to lay off investigations
By KAREN M. FLORES & KARLON N. RAMA
Sun.Star Staff Reporters
A CAPITOL official allied with Cebu Vice Gov. John Gregory Osmeña yesterday criticized Gov. Pablo Garcia’s intention for the province to join the investigation on the P3.4-billion shipment of a shabu ingredient.
Provincial Board (PB) Member Ina Asirit, who functions as Osmeña’s campaign coordinator, said that because of Garcia’s political interest in the issue, it would be wiser for him to leave the investigation to the “proper government agencies.”
While the governor may have supervision and control over the three Capitol employees named in the papers of Coastside Ventures Inc., Asirit said he should “not join the fray.”
“Any move on his part to engage in activities regarding this issue will be construed as a political maneuver or scheme to make this into a trial by publicity,” she pointed out.
“He should allow the different agencies to do their work without any politicking. Leave the politicking to the different campaign sorties, not in the Capitol where there should be a semblance of honor. This is beyond politics already because innocent people are involved,” she said further.
Asirit was referring to Joebert Cuesta, Ma. Rowena Roldan and Rorela Villegas, all
employees under the vice governor’s office who have been linked to Coastside Ventures Inc., consignee of the 1,740 kilos of pseudoephedrine.
Ombud inquiry
For his part, Governor Garcia once again defended yesterday his decision to step into the investigation by the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA). He said the findings there can be used to take administrative action not only on Capitol employees but also on officials involved.
For its part, the Office of the Ombudsman-Visayas will ask the PNP to submit copies of all evidence on the pseudoephedrine scandal, as the anti-graft office prepares to launch its own probe on the controversy.
Ombudsman Director Virginia Santiago said their investigation will focus only on the public officials whose names have been dragged into the controversy.
She dismissed comments that some sectors are manipulating the anti-graft office for political ends.
The anti-graft office will also not stop the Provincial Government if it decides to conduct its own probe, because by law, administrative investigations can be launched by the parent agency of the official being investigated, Santiago said.
Vice Governor Osmeña and some members of his staff have been dragged into the controversy that erupted almost immediately after the anti-graft office closed its investigation on the Perdido Lex controversy.
Deputy Ombudsman Primo Miro is still reviewing Santiago’s findings on the Perdido Lex case, with his evaluation being delayed by official trips out of town and some health issues.
Twin links
Miro’s blood sugar level rose yesterday, with the official having to go to his doctor for a checkup.
“We will coordinate our investigation with the PDEA,” Santiago, for her part, revealed on the pseudoephedrine case.
The pseudoephedrine investigation was launched after a task force from the Bureau of Customs seized over 1,700 kilos of the substance, an ingredient in making the regulated drug methamphetamine hydrochloride or shabu.
The investigation showed that the consignee, Coastside Ventures Inc., turned out to be owned by some of the same people linked to Perdido Lex, a foundation that still has to account for some P5 million in funds released by the vice governor’s office.
Perdido Lex was also the subject of an NBI investigation.
(March 31, 2004 issue)
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