Tuesday, May 13, 2008 Mandaue drops plan to file more charges against Cañete
MANDAUE City officials are foregoing plans to file charges against Mandaue City College (MCC) official Dr. Paulus Cañete for allegedly ordering someone to steal school documents and for plotting to kill the mayor.
However, the City Government is now studying the administrative liabilities of Cañete’s companions when the alleged plan was hatched.
City Administrator Briccio Boholst, also the Integrated Bar of the Philippines-Cebu Chapter president, said that only a plot to kill the president of state is considered a crime.
One of the investigators handling the case, SPO1 Ramil Morpos, shared the same view.
He said the police are no longer probing the assassination plot against Mayor Jonas Cortes to build up a case against Cañete, who is facing an illegal possession of firearms charge for yielding an unlicensed firearm during an entrapment last Friday.
But aside from Cañete, Melba P. Villamor, 42; Roldan Branola, 32; Reynaldo Coligado, 27; Elmer Repalda, 41; and Katrina E. Cortes, 29, may be facing administrative charges for their involvement in the supposed plot to kill Cortes as alleged by squealer Gavino Cabahug.
Ripalda is one of MCC’s deans, Cortes is one the finance officers and Branola is the school driver.
Cabahug also alleged that the school’s Human Resource Deparment head, which he failed to identify, is also a member of Cañete’s core group.
Boholst said it is clear that the alleged plot was hatched in the presence of the officals, and some of them may have been actively involved in the planning, so they too must be administratively liable.
This, as the Commission on Higher Education (Ched) and school district started an inventory on the schools records, equipment and supplies yesterday.
It was led by Ched 7’s Dr. Josefino Ronquillo with Lucilin Suan of Mandaue Schools District and yielded about 50 sacks and boxes of school records.
A minor commotion marred the inventory at the Barangay Ibabao campus yesterday at 10:15 a.m. yesterday when four of Cañete’s representatives allegedly forced their way in, prompting City’s Janitorial and Security Service Unit (Jassu) head Edmund Maboloc to use force.
MCC student Arjie “Boy” Cacdac was injured during the commotion.
MCC caretaker Dr. Susana Cabahug said the mayor only allowed two of Cañete’s representatives to witness the inventory, but the four reportedly forced their way into the facility.
The tension was eventually diffused when mayor’s representative, lawyer Francisco Amit, allowed them to enter premises if they followed some guidelines.
Cortes, in a separate interview, said then acting mayor Amadeo Seno Jr. had repeatedly called for an accounting and inventory of the documents but Cañete allegedly refused to grant the request.
Cañete was arrested by the police after Cabahug sought the help of GMA 7 Balitang Bisdak, which in turn coordinated with the police, after Cañete allegedly ordered him to steal school documents and kill Cortes.
The school official denied the allegations and claimed that politics was behind his arrest.
Mandaue City Vice Mayor Carlo Fortuna, who is with the opposition, said Cañete was “framed” and called for the ouster of the police officials involved in the arrest.
Cortes, for his part, is urging authorities to also include Fortuna in the investigation.
“Og naay mahitabo sa mayor, he (Fortuna) will be the one to benefit (If something bad happens to me). If I will be asked, iapil na sila pag imbestigar kay defensive ra kaayo sila ni Paulus,” Cortes said.
Cortes also criticized Fortuna and City Councilor Victor Biaño for linking him to the arrest of Cañete.
When asked about the assassination plot, the mayor said,”It’s a police matter, let’s leave it to them.”
Interior and Local Government Undersecretary Lito Ruiz, in a dyAB interview yesterday, made an appeal not to include police, which is under his department, in the controversy, saying that the matter is purely political.
He added that since the case was already filed in court, then the court should be left to decide on it.
Cortes also said yesterday that he reconsidering his earlier statement about rehiring Cañete.
Now that the school official is facing charges and linked in a plot to kill the mayor, Cortes said he no longer expects a harmonious relationship between them.
Cortes also claimed that the cellphone number, which squealer Cabahug linked to Cañete through text messages, belongs to the school official.
As a proof of his claim, he showed reporters a text message bearing Cañete’s number.
The text message he received last Feb. 26 was an invitation from Cañete for him to attend MCC’s board of trustees meeting. (OCP)
