Thursday, October 05, 2006 Senators call on Ombudswoman 'to save her office's integrity'
SENATOR Panfilo Lacson on Wednesday called on Ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez to come back to the Philippines and immediately save her office from losing its integrity and stop the loss of P1.3 billion to Mega Pacific and conniving Commission on Elections (Comelec) officials who made a windfall out of the automation deal that was already voided by the high court.
"It's not too late for Mercy. She can still save the situation by reviewing and reversing the findings of her overall deputy Ombudsman," Senator Lacson said. Gutierrez is in Switzerland on an official trip.
He appealed to Gutierrez to cut short her trip and clear the legal mess caused by her office's ruling that cleared Comelec officials allegedly involved in the anomalous computerization deal.
Lacson called on Gutierrez to put primordial concern on the integrity of the Office of the Ombudsman, a constitutionally independent body, and the hard earned money of taxpayers lost in the alleged fraudulent transaction.
He noted that this was not the first time the Comelec had been involved in questionable multimillion-peso deals, citing the hasty and unprogrammed payment of P46 million to a defunct printer earlier this year purportedly for services rendered 22 years ago.
Lacson said Comelec officials have yet to satisfactorily explain how the payment to Win San Trading was facilitated in a matter of days without any investigation conducted to ascertain if the Comelec indeed has a long-standing payable account with Win San.
He said the payment was covered by a Department of Budget and Management Special Allotment Release Order (Saro) and a Notice of Cash Allocation, which were interestingly dated on the same day - Dec. 28, 2005.
The following day, the Comelec issued a check, signed by Comelec Chairman Benjamin Abalos and countersigned by Comelec finance director Eduardo Mejos payable to Win San.
Yet, Lacson said the Commission on Audit (COA) reported that the negotiated check corresponding to the Saro was not submitted to the Office of the Auditor.
"Why did Comelec wait 22 years before paying up? Did someone make money out of it?" he asked.
Lacson said with the Ombudsman's decision absolving Comelec officials from liability in the Mega Pacific deal, it would be tantamount to abetting the Comelec's "growing reputation as a lavish and whimsical spender of taxpayers' money."
For his part, Senator Joker Arroyo said Ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez "has a lot of explaining to do."
"This office (Office of the Ombudsman) is charged with investigating graft and corruption. It may well be asked: 'Is it being used to conceal corruption?" he added.
Arroyo said the Supreme Court (SC) felt that those who participated in the illegal contract involving public funds should be punished and directed the Ombudsman to look into it and the solicitor general to recover the P1.2 billion paid to Mega Pacific. (CPB/Sunnex)
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