Thursday, August 14, 2008 Prosecutors withdraw lamppost charge By Katrina A. Balmaceda Sun.Star Correspondent
SANDIGANBAYAN prosecutors formally filed a motion to withdraw a criminal charge filed in an Asean lamppost case against former Mandaue City mayor Thadeo Ouano and 11 others, and the defendants’ lawyer is not happy.
Lawyer Gloria Lastimosa-Dalawampu said yesterday she is “ready to entangle in court” to oppose the motion to withdraw information filed by prosecutors from the Fourth Division.
All of the defendants are scheduled for arraignment before the Sandiganbayan tomorrow.
But this may not push through because Dalawampu reportedly filed a motion to defer the arraignment, on the basis of a motion to quash.
In an interview with Sun.Star Cebu yesterday, Dalawampu said the motion to withdraw information is “disadvantageous” to her clients.
Strengthen case
“If this is a war, (the prosecutors) are withdrawing not in order to retreat, but to strengthen (their case),” Dalawampu said.
She said the integration of the Commission on Audit (COA) report, which is the reason stated for the motion to withdraw information, will be additional evidence against her clients.
The motion to withdraw the information was filed before the Sandiganbayan in Quezon City last Aug. 8, signed by deputy special prosecutor Robert Kallos. This was exactly a week after Kallos initially manifested the intention to withdraw the case information before Justice Gregory Ong.
Facing criminal cases over the alleged overpricing of the lampposts are former Mandaue City mayor Thadeo Ouano; former regional director Roberto Lala of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH); assistant directors Gloria Dindin and Marlina Alvizo; division chiefs Pureza Fernandez, Augustinito Hermoso, Luis Galang, Restituto Diano and Buenaventura Pajo; and Isabelo Braza of Fabmik Construction and Equipment Supply Co. Inc.
Mandaue City engineers Hidelisa Latonio and Gregorio Omo are also facing criminal cases in the Fourth Division, and Dalawampu is their lawyer.
Damages
Dalawampu said that in a motion for reconsideration she previously filed, one of her bases for reconsideration was the lack of official COA findings. The lamps were bought as the country prepared to host the Association of Southeast Asian Nations summit in 2006.
If the justices grant the prosecutors’ motion to withdraw the information, Dalawampu said she will file a suit for damages.
“We will have grounds to file a damage suit already. Giapakaulawan gud akong clients (My clients were publicly humiliated),” she said.
“What will happen to my clients’ bail? To their preventive suspension?” she added.
In the prosecutors’ motion to withdraw information, Kallos said that their decision stemmed from a court order dated May 28, 2008, which asked for a resolution regarding the motion for reconsideration filed by all the accused.
The Office of the Special Prosecutor then met with the Office of the Ombudsman-Visayas, which handled the preliminary investigation.
More evidence
“After a thorough study, the Office of the Ombudsman-Visayas recommended the conduct of further investigation with the end in view of obtaining additional evidence in the light of the audit report prepared by the COA relative to the procurement of street lighting facilities,” the motion read.
Attached to the motion was a July 30, 2008 order issued by Tanodbayan Merceditas Gutierrez.
The order directed the prosecutors handling the case to “conduct further investigation” due to the COA findings.
It authorized Kallos to withdraw the information subject to the arraignment scheduled for Ouano last Aug. 1, which was cancelled when the former mayor failed to show up.
In an earlier interview with Sun.Star Cebu, Assistant Ombudsman-Visayas Virginia Santiago disclosed that the plan to withdraw information concerned all the accused in the criminal cases regarding the Asean lampposts.
