Wednesday, July 09, 2008 Pelaez calls Saavedra ‘apologist’ for Radaza
Crisologo Saavedra and Efrain Pelaez have a lot in common.
They are both businessmen. They are both active in what Deputy Ombudsman Pelagio Apostol calls “the fight against corruption.” They have both filed anti-graft complaints against people, particularly sitting officials.
But yesterday, Pelaez, head of Mactan Chamber of Commerce and Industry (MCCI), and Saavedra, lamppost controversy “whistleblower,” clashed during a radio interview aired live.
In the interview over radio dyRF, Saavedra gave his views on the on-going hearing on the lamppost scam at the Sandiganbayan. He filed the complaint that resulted in the investigation and the subsequent indictment.
Pelaez said Saavedra should stop making comments and leave the matter to the court.
“He should leave it to the court instead of appearing as apologists for the Radazas,” Pelaez told Sun.Star Cebu, referring to the seemingly warm relationship of Saavedra and Lapu-Lapu City Mayor Arturo Radaza.
Although they are graft watchers, Pelaez said they have no interest in all the cases being investigated as these happened long before their organization was established.
“I did not supply computers to the city, as in the case of Saavedra. He is a contractor and a supplier,” Pelaez said, referring to the security cameras that Saavedra earlier proposed to supply to the government for the 12th Association of Southeast Asian Nations summit.
“Bisan si satanas pa ko (even if I’m the devil), it does not change the fact that there are scams and these are being investigated,” he said, citing the Girl Scouts of the Philippines fund scam, the computer purchase scam and the lamppost controversy, which were allegedly committed before his group was accredited as an anti-graft watcher.
Pelaez also accused Saavedra of “changing his tune.” He said the complainant earlier said local officials in the cities of Mandaue and Lapu-Lapu are involved in the lamppost overpricing.
But now Saavedra declared in the interview that Radaza is less culpable in the alleged offenses.
“Why doesn’t he keep quiet? It’s not the job of a complainant to back-track,” said Pelaez.
He lamented that his detractors got back at him by making accusations against him to ruin his image.
Saavedra, in an interview with Sun.Star Cebu after the incident, spoke very little.
“I talked, he talked, no problem. The public will judge him,” he said.
Saavedra said he shouldn’t have been included in the indictments for the lamppost scam.
He has repeatedly said it was the product of the collusion between the suppliers, the Department of public works and Highways (DPWH) and people at the Mandaue City Government, and that Radaza and the people in Lapu-Lapu were just dragged into the issue.
Pelaez, on the other hand, filed charges against Radaza on the alleged overpriced purchase of desktop computers for students.
And before that, the MICCI sponsored the publication of advertisements in Cebu dailies highlighting issues like squatting and garbage in Lapu-Lapu City.
Radaza, in turn, fought back and issued a closure order against Pelaez’s establishment, the Marina Mall, for unpaid taxes. He even put Pelaez’s mall on lockdown for a day.
Saavedra said he is not defending Radaza.
While he admitted declaring that “the local government of Lapu-Lapu was not part of the collusion scheme of Fabmik, Mandaue and the DPWH” in a Power Point presentation before Ombudsman Special Prosecutors, he argued that the findings were “not made for Radaza’s benefit.”
“I am not trying to protect the mayor or anybody else for that matter. But insisting (on) his guilt will only weaken the case. It may make it appear that the evidences the Ombudsman have are not enough to convict anybody because it was not even enough to convict Radaza,” he told Sun.Star Cebu.
“Let us not be carried away just because Radaza is not very popular,” he added.
Saavedra is among the witnesses the Ombudsman’s Office of the Special Prosecutor is set to present before the Sandiganbayan in the lamppost case. (KNR/OCP)
