Tuesday, October 09, 2007 Anti-graft group visits Apostol
A GROUP of businessmen and civic leaders trooped to the anti-graft office yesterday to discuss pending cases with Deputy Ombudsman Pelagio Apostol.
And while both the anti-graft office and the businessmen called for transparency in government in a previous forum, the media was kept out of yesterday’s dialogue.
“It was a private meeting,” Efrain Pelaez of the Mactan Island Chamber of Commerce and Industry said, adding that it was not an open forum.
“Anyway, you are free to interview those who attended,” he said.
Not welcome
Members of the media, who waited outside the anti-graft office’s main door for hours, could only speculate as to what was discussed during the meeting.
Among the participants were businessmen Richard King and Dondi Joseph, and Fr. Carmelo Diola and Ernesto Aboitiz of Dilaab Foundation.
Based on the anti-graft office’s internal rules, parties cannot discuss pending cases with investigators unless this is done in a formal hearing or through a pleading.
Deputy Ombudsman Apostol, for his part, confirmed that the status of certain cases was discussed. But, he stressed, no discussion was done on the merits of the cases.
“I only spoke to them about the anti-corruption program of this office,” he said.
He said the anti-graft office remains an impartial agency and that it takes its mandate of being the protector of people seriously.
Joseph, president of the Cebu Business Club, said the discussion covered the topics of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations summit lamppost issue, which is now in the formal investigation stage and is being handled by a panel of anti-graft lawyers.
Updates
They also asked for updates on the alleged overpriced personal computers bought by the Lapu-Lapu City Government, which is currently under fact-finding investigation by a panel of associate graft investigators.
They also sought an update on the 2002 girl scouts fund scam that had as respondents former congresswoman Clavel Asas-Martinez, Paz Rada-za, wife of Lapu-Lapu City Mayor Arturo Radaza and Girl Scouts of the Philippines (GSP) Cebu Council president, together with fellow GSP official Alejandrita Meca.
The anti-graft office’s Public Assistance and Corruption Prevention Office, under Ombudsman Director Virginia Santiago, closed its investigation and recommended the filing of formal charges against Martinez, Radaza and Meca as early as September 2005.
Apostol said the businessmen were concerned because all three investigations remain pending despite—except for the case of the computers, which was only recently filed—the lapse of a considerable period.
He said he only assured them that he would look into it. (KNR)
