Tuesday, August 05, 2008 Ombud defends decision to do new probe
THE PROSECUTION is just “playing safe” by deciding to do a reinvestigation of the Asean summit decorative lamppost controversy.
This was the statement of Deputy Ombudsman of the Visayas Pelagio Apostol in an interview with Sun.Star Cebu yesterday.
Apostol said that he, in a meeting with investigators, had “consented to accepting” the motion for reconsideration submitted by the defense.
He said the prosecution only wants to guard the right of the accused to due process.
The Sandiganbayan has yet to approve the motion for reconsideration submitted by the public officials and suppliers indicted for violation of the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act in the Asean summit lamppost controversy.
The Sandiganbayan 4th division came to Cebu last week for the arraignment of former Mandaue city mayor Thadeo Ouano, who stands among the accused.
But after Ouano failed to show up, 4th division prosecutors, led by Cornelio Somido and supervised by Robert Callos, expressed the prosecution’s intention to withdraw the filed case information against Ouano.
This move, according to the prosecutors, came about because an Ombudsman staffer recently discovered that the Commission on Audit (COA), which conducted a separate investigation on the lampposts, already had results.
With COA results
The prosecutors said they wanted to do a new preliminary investigation incorporating the COA results.
But when Sun.Star Cebu called up Assistant Ombudsman to the Visayas Virginia Santiago last Saturday, she revealed that, should the COA report prove the need, the prosecution intends to conduct another preliminary investigation on all the accused in all Sandiganbayan divisions concerned, not just Ouano.
Santiago has asked the COA to furnish her office with a copy.
According to Apostol, another preliminary investigation that will incorporate the COA findings will give the accused ten days to comment.
“The (length of the) delay is not very significant...We are just guarding the right of the accused to confront evidence (presented against him) during the preliminary investigation,” Apostol said.
Because trial on the case has not yet started, the prosecution can still withdraw the filed case information.
An arraignment, which sets a trial in motion, is scheduled on Aug. 15 before the Sandiganbayan 4th division. This will include Ouano, DPWH 7 Director Roberto Lala, Assistant Directors Gloria Dindin and Marlina Alvizo, Division chiefs Pureza Fernandez, Augustinito Hermoso, Luis Galang, Restituto Diano and Buenaventura Pajo, and Fabmik Construction and Equipment Supply Co. Inc.’s Isabelo Braza.
Cancelled
Ouano’s lawyer Ray Montri Santos told Sun.Star Cebu that he did not know why Ouano’s arraignment before the 2nd division last Tuesday was cancelled.
But he assured 4th division chairperson, justice Gregory Ong, that the reason Ouano failed to attend last Friday’s arraignment before the 4th division was because the former mayor had scheduled a medical check-up there.
But Ong asked for documents to prove it, which Santos was not able to present.
Meanwhile, whistleblower Crisologo Saavedra expressed his opposition to the prosecution’s move, calling it “risky” and a “waste of time.”
Saavedra said the COA audit findings were exactly the same as those of the Ombudsman-Visayas. The two investigations, he claimed, used the same evidence and affidavits.
According to Saavedra, his source inside the COA said the lamppost prices were “bloated”.
COA legal officer Marinisa Codera confirmed that the report was discussed on their website but refused to talk about what the results were.
Apostol told Sun.Star Cebu that while Saavedra has the right to give his opinion, the public must trust the Office of the Special Prosecutor.
“These prosecutors have a lot of experience and are among the best in the country,” he said. (KAB)
