Wednesday, July 23, 2008 Biz man defends self v. poison letter
A POISON letter sent to Tanodbayan Merceditas Gutierrez is getting businessman Crisologo Saavedra hot under the collar.
The letter, he said in an interview yesterday, supposedly accuses him of having told the respondents impleaded in the lamppost scam that an ombudsman official can get them off the hook for P2 million.
“Why would I do that when it was I who filed the complaint and followed it up until it was elevated to the level of the Sandiganbayan,” the businessman said.
He suspects that the letter was the brainchild of another businessman based in Lapu-Lapu City who is currently at odds with Lapu-Lapu City Mayor Arturo Radaza, one of the officials impleaded in the lamppost scam.
Defense
That businessman accused Saavedra of running defense for Radaza when Saavedra, interviewed live by a radio station, said Radaza cannot be held for preparing the program of works and estimates for the lamppost deal.
“He probably misunderstood,” Saavedra said in an interview yesterday.
“I never said that Radaza is not guilty. I simply said Radaza, according to the evidence the Ombudsman gathered, did not prepare the program of works and estimates for the transaction,” he said.
Fears
Saavedra said the poison letter has already reached Tanodbayan Gutierrez. He fears that the official “might believe it.”
But it is not as if the Tanodbayan doesn’t have problems of her own.
There are wide spread reports that employees at the Office of the Ombudsman are getting demoralized by policies of the Tanodbayan.
One such practice is requiring that all resolutions and decisions be sent to Manila for her review prior to approval.
The actual review, however, is done by assistants, not career graft investigators, and supposedly results in more harm than good.
Demolition job
The problems became public when Special Prosecutor Dennis Villa-Ignacio accused Gutierrez of waging a demolition job against him by clipping his powers and then endorsing an estafa case that was filed against him by another prosecutor.
Yesterday, 65 Ombudsman officials, lawyers and employees signed a two-paragraph manifesto in support of the Tanodbayan.
“In the very recent years, under the present administration, the Office of the Ombudsman-Visayas, and the Ombudsman as a whole, can be said to be as dynamic as ever with widespread community endeavors for the Filipino people and substantial heartening opportunities and benefits for the Ombudsman officials and employees,” they said.
Support
“We, the personnel and staff of the Office of the Ombudsman-Visayas, manifest our full and unconditional support to the leadership of the Honorable Ombudsman, Ma. Merceditas Navarro-Gutierrez. As Ombudsman employees, we strongly recognize Honorable Ombudsman Gutierrez’s commitment and sincerity to fulfill and accomplish the Office of the Ombudsman’s mandate and institutional goals,” they said. (KNR)
