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Friday, January 20, 2006
Ombudsman clears ex-mayor, treasurer in graft suit
By Antonio M. Ajero
A FORMER municipal mayor and the incumbent treasurer of Caraga, Davao Oriental have been cleared by the Office of the Ombudsman in Mindanao from liability in the purchase of a second hand motor vehicle allegedly without public bidding.
Documents obtained by Sun.Star Davao indicated that the Ombudsman-Mindanao had dismissed for lack of merit the case filed against ex-mayor Stanley E. Mori and Municipal Treasurer Gerardo F. Aguimod as early as 2004.
The resolution was penned by lawyer Agnes Altea-Monfort, graft investigation and prosecution officer, and approved by Ombudsman-Mindanao Antonio E. Valenzuela on April 17, 2004.
The complaint was filed by Vicente A. Pichon and Pedro E. Benogsudan, said to be political foes of Mori, who questioned the purchase in 2002 by the municipal government of a red Isuzu Trooper Wagon in the amount of P1.4 million from one Gina Marie Mendoza.
In dismissing the charge, the Ombudsman considered points in favor of mayor Mori and treasurer Aguimod, among them that the transaction was done by observing regular procedures and processes and the required documents complied with in accordance with law. It also said that there is no prohibition against the purchase of a second hand vehicle.
In denying the complaint, Mori and Aguimod submitted several documents proving that the transaction was above board.
In a seven-page resolution, the deputy Ombudsman for Mindanao also pointed out that complainants failed to submit an iota of evidence proving that the buy was an "excessive expenditure" as earlier alleged.
The Ombudsman likewise found nothing wrong with the fact that the vehicle was already being used by the municipal government months before the absolute deed of sale was executed. "Such arrangement is even advantageous to the government to ensure its (the car's) reliability and good condition," the resolution said.
An attempt of complainant Benogsudan to reopen the case on the ground of newly discovered evidence was likewise denied in another Ombudsman resolution on November 24, 2004.
The Ombudsman junked Benogsudan's allegation that the documents earlier submitted by respondents were falsified, as he himself failed to present the original documents alleged to be falsified.
(January 20, 2006 issue)
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