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Thursday, January 13, 2005
Ombud order upsets fiscal, ‘storms’ office
By Karlon N. Rama
Sun.Star Staff Reporter
Assistant Regional State Prosecutor Vicente Mañalac stormed the anti-graft office yesterday to vent steam, after being ordered to answer charges relative to the Cedrick Devinadera controversy.
Sources at the Office of the Ombudsman-Visayas said Mañalac arrived around 10 a.m. and looked for Ombudsman Director Virginia Santiago who, unfortunately for him, was out on official business.
Mañalac was then directed to Associate Graft Investigator Alejandro Borden who was the officer of the day. Borden holds office adjacent to Santiago’s room.
Borden, in an interview, confirmed Mañalac’s visit but did not give details as to what he said.
Borden said he merely lent an ear to the official, whom he described was “very emotional”.
He admitted that he didn’t know half of what the official was talking about because the Devinadera incident is docketed as a formal complaint and, therefore, is being handled by a graft investigator.
Sun.Star tried but failed to reach Mañalac for comment but in a previous interview he expressed willingness to undergo any investigation if only to clear his name.
Mañalac’s superior at the Office of the Cebu City Prosecutor, Cezar Tajan-langit, also expressed frustration over the anti-graft office’s decision to investigate the complaint, which he considers a “non-issue.”
The Crusade Against Violence (CAV) filed the complaint against Tajan-langit, Mañalac and Provincial Prosecutor Napoleon Alburo.
Despite his frustration, Tajanlangit said he will submit an answer to the charge.
He described the CAV charge as a “rehash” of a host of other complaints filed before the Department of Justice and the Supreme Court’s (SC) Office of the Bar Confidant.
“Maybe I will just adopt the points I raised in the complaints they filed against me in all those other venues,” he said.
He stressed that he, Mañalac and Alburo didn’t’ commit any impropriety in the filing of the case against Devinadera.
Devinadera was charged with murder before the Regional Trial Court (RTC) in Barili after admitting he and the slain Ben Bacolod, and not Ruben Ecleo Jr., killed Alona Bacolod-Ecleo.
Had it not been set aside, Devinadera’s conviction by RTC Judge Ildefonso Suerte was deemed to distort the parricide case against Ecleo.
Mañalac, Tajanlangit and Alburo are facing an administrative complaint before the Ombudsman-Visayas for the filing of the murder charge against Devinadera allegedly despite their knowledge of the parricide case against Ecleo.
Mañalac, as the assistant provincial prosecutor that time, conducted the preliminary investigation and recommended the filing of the murder charge.
Tajanlangit, who was then provincial prosecutor, approved the filing of the charge, while Alburo, who was assistant fiscal, handled the prosecution of the case.
Suerte, who was scheduled to retire this year, was dismissed by the SC last month as a result of his handling of the Devinadera case. He was ruled to have acted in excess of authority.
Tajanlangit said neither the CAV nor the Integrated Bar of the Philippines, which intervened in the Devinadera case, cited any law or regulation that got violated by his handling of the case.
So, he is optimistic that all complaints against them will be thrown out.
“What law have I violated? When I filed the case in court, which provision of the prosecutors’ manual did I violate? None of the complaints they’ve filed cited any law or regulation. The only thing it contained is the allegation that I connived with Judge Suerte. I don’t even know the guy. I’ve never seen him,” Tajanlangit said.
(January 13, 2005 issue)
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