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Thursday, April 22, 2004
John aide pins Lex on Gwen, pa
By KARLON N. RAMA
Sun.Star Staff Reporter
A FORMAL antigraft case against him and his boss notwithstanding, Willie Mulla yesterday broke his silence and asked the anti-graft office to look into the Perdido Lex controversy from another angle.
Mulla, Vice Gov. John Gregory Osmeña’s chief of staff since his freshman year at the Cebu Provincial Board, filed an eight-page complaint that blames the Perdido Lex controversy on Gov. Pablo Garcia and his daughter, gubernatorial aspirant Gwendolyn, before the Office of the Ombudsman-Visayas.
Mulla accused the Garcias, together with Perdido Lex officials Milagros Herrera and Fe Tan, of technical malversation of public funds through conspiracy.
He urged the anti-graft office, which is coincidentally poised to investigate him and the vice governor for the same charges, to investigate the Garcias, Herrera and Tan for:
l fraud against the public treasury;
l incriminatory machinations against Mulla and the vice governor;
l graft and corrupt practices; and
l unethical conduct.
In his affidavit, Mulla accused the father-daughter tandem of masterminding the scam to siphon off millions in government funds, by channeling money from the vice governor’s development fund to a bogus nongovernment organization of their own creation.
He said this was the Garcias’ way “to raise funds” for Gwendolyn’s candidacy but, he added, they had another intent—to set up and ruin the vice governor’s gubernatorial aspirations through “scheme and maneuvers.”
He pointed out that the governor and Gwendolyn, his consultant, could have protected Cebu, if they wanted to, since they had the authority over the accreditation of nongovernment groups and the approval of disbursement vouchers to release funds to these groups.
“I’d rather not dignify the wild actions of a desperate man with any comment at all,” said Gwendolyn, for her part, in a separate interview.
Appearing unsurprised by Mulla’s filing of the complaint, the Capitol consultant on systems, promotions and development quipped: “He doesn’t deserve a comment.”
Mulla, in his affidavit-complaint, narrated that it was Gwendolyn who, in the early part of 2002, suggested the launching of a computer education program to the vice governor.
He said she got the vice governor to propose the plan, even if the latter believed it would be turned down by Governor Garcia, whom Mulla described as “computer-illiterate.”
Influence
According to Mulla, Gwendolyn assured that the governor would accept the proposal and that “she will be the one to take care of the problem, saying he (the governor) relies a lot on her as consultant.”
Mulla said Gwendolyn also further assured the vice governor by saying that he (Osmeña) had the affection of her father.
Mulla said it was also Gwendolyn who introduced the vice governor to Herrera as president of Perdido Lex Foundation Inc., and that meeting led to Governor Garcia’s signing of a memorandum of agreement between the Province and Perdido Lex.
“The influence of respondent Gwendolyn F. Garcia-Codilla on her father and co-respondent Pablo P. Garcia… is clearly demonstrated by the fact that the latter signed the memorandum of agreement even before the proper and needed certificate of accreditation was issued to Perdido Lex Foundation,” Mulla said.
He revealed that it was Gwendolyn who, in April 2003, caused the preparation and processing of a disbursement voucher, covering P3 million in government money, for release to Perdido Lex.
Instructions
Mulla said Gwendolyn called him up and instructed him to go to Provincial Accountant Marieto Ypil to facilitate the release.
He said he complied, “having in mind the advice of the vice governor to follow whatever instruction that respondent Gwendolyn F. Garcia-Codilla may have on the matter, as a sign of respect and courtesy to her, being the one who introduced and suggested the project.”
He maintained that he was surprised when he, on Jan. 21, 2004, came across a report that tagged the vice governor for the alleged release of government funds to a bogus foundation.
“From the information I received from a reliable source, it was respondents Pablo P. Garcia and Gwendolyn F. Garcia-Codilla who released such wrong and inaccurate information to the media outlets in Cebu City,” Mulla also said.
He said that the governor’s subsequent pronouncements to the press made it appear that Perdido Lex is bogus when, in fact, “they were the ones who had the opportunity of knowing the true identity of said foundation because it was Ms. Gwendolyn herself who introduced its president, Milagros Herrera, to the vice governor and respondent governor himself was the one who signed the memorandum of agreement with her (Herrera).”
(April 22, 2004 issue)
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