Saturday, July 30, 2005
Visayas Deputy Ombud faces probe on 'wealth'
By Karlon N. Rama
CEBU CITY -- Deputy Ombudsman Primo Miro is under investigation for alleged ill-gotten wealth.
Miro confirmed this Friday, adding that the Office of the Ombudsman central office even asked for copies of his statement of assets and liabilities (SAL) for verification.
He welcomes the investigation because it gives him the opportunity to clear his name.
There is no truth to the reports, Miro said.
"Ambot lang usa ni nga wealth, asa kaha ni pangitaon (I don't even know what wealth they are referring to. I don't know where they will look)," he said.
Sources from inside the office revealed that the probe stemmed from a letter detailing Miro's increasing net worth.
The Internal Affairs Bureau, chaired by Orlando Casimiro, deputy ombudsman for the military, and other law enforcement offices, is handling the case.
Also attached to the letter is a Sun.Star Cebu report on a Supreme Court (SC) decision that declared how officials like the deputy ombudsman may be placed under investigation sans impeachment.
Miro's SAL shows how his assets increased in the years he has been with the anti-graft office.
The records reveal that from a total net worth of P2.1 million in January to December 2001, the year after he retired from the Department of Justice and got appointed to the anti-graft office, his assets increased to P3 million in 2002 and to P3.5 million in 2003.
He submitted his SAL for 2004 a few months ago, but despite a letter-request from Sun.Star Cebu to Ombudsman Director Virginia Santiago, it has not been released.
The 2004 SAL is expected to contain his newly acquired mountain rest house in Barangay Buhisan and the reported purchase of another property in Guadalupe.
Based on their 2003 SAL, Miro earns an annual income of P327,490, while his wife Myrna earns P176,160 as administrative officer II at the Cebu City Hall's Office of the City Attorney.
They have 16 separate titled pieces of property, most of them purchased and some inherited, in Danao City, a residential lot in Cordova town and more agricultural lands in Argao town. They pegged the fair market value of all these parcels at P2,420,330.
They declared no other business interests and auxiliary sources of funds aside from P800,000 in the bank and over P200,000 in lot rentals each year since 2001.
Miro described his rest house as a wooden structure with a floor area of eight by 12 feet and built on a 200-square-meter property.
An inspection revealed that the house is actually made of concrete and adorned with wooden panels.
It is located inside a compound that was hewn from a hillside and supported by a concrete riprap.
It has a paved stairway that leads to a concrete terrace and farther up to the entrance of the rest house, which has a separate kitchen and a garden.
Miro's 2001 SAL placed the value of his real property at P260,000, including his home in Cebu City, a property in Barangay Binaliw, two properties in Danao and a residential lot in Cordova.
That same year, he also bought and declared three properties in Argao-in Langtad, Binlod and Dalas-ag. In his SAL, all three properties were said to be bought at P7,500.
His assets total P2,533,995.72, including real property. Of this amount, P2,273,995.72 comprises home items worth P230,000, P200,000 in bank deposits, P1,494,538 in retirement money, P49,411.76 in provident benefits under Myrna's name and P300,000 in vehicles.
His liabilities for that year, meanwhile, reached P431,580.34.
Miro's net worth increased in 2002 as his real property ballooned from P260,000 in the previous year to P1,930.780.
His SAL for the year saw an infusion of P205,165 in real property that were said to be inherited.
He also acquired new properties: a residence in Danao City, purchased for P87,600 and renovated for P50,000, plus another property whose cost was unlisted but whose fair market value was P90,430.
But his other properties devalued from P2,273,995.72 in the previous year to P1,410,000.
Even with liabilities reaching P330,764, his total net worth remained at P3,010.016.
In 2003, his real properties further ballooned from P1,930,780 to a total of P2,420,330 after acquiring seven new properties listed in the SAL as both purchased and inherited.
The new properties, all in Danao City, include a residential unit in Taboc, with a current fair market value of P103,350; an agricultural lot in Guinsay, worth P273,900; an agricultural lot in Guanaco, worth P350,300; a 569-square-meter residential lot in Loco, worth P386,920, (he bought 200 square meters and inherited the rest); an agricultural lot in Cabaña, worth P89,800 (he purchased 5,268 square meters and again inherited the rest); and another agricultural lot in Mantija, worth P12,830.
His other properties, however, continued to devalue from P1,410,000 in 2002 to P1,390,000.
Despite this and a liability that reached P275,000, his total net worth still climbed to P3.5 million that year.
(July 30, 2005 issue)
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