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Friday, March 30, 2007
Suspend order against 2 mayors, 17 others out
CEBU CITY -- Mandaue City Mayor Thadeo Ouano, Lapu-Lapu City Mayor Arturo Radaza and 17 other public officials were suspended Thursday to give way to the ongoing investigation on their alleged participation in the overpriced purchase of lamps for the Asean summit.
Tanodbayan Merceditas Gutierrez signed the order for the six-month preventive suspension, which the officials can remedy by seeking a temporary restraining order from the Court of Appeals.
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Acting Visayas Deputy Ombudsman Virginia Palanca-Santiago hand-carried to Manila the recommendation on the suspension, which the three-member anti-graft panel prepared.
Based on the findings of the Office of the Ombudsman-Visayas, “the lighting facilities, as acquired and/or paid for by the government, were highly overpriced.”
Ouano did not issue any comment on his suspension. But he thanked his supporters who held a prayer vigil Thursday night outside City Hall.
Representative Nerissa Soon-Ruiz, who is now allied with Ouano under Kampi party, joined Ouano at City Hall together with the mayor’s family.
“We will let the law take its course. The truth will set us free,” Ruiz said.
Sun.Star Cebu tried but failed to get Radaza’s comment. But in an ABS-CBN TV Patrol report, Radaza said the suspension is not something to be scared about. “Di ta makurat ana,” he said.
Businessman Crisologo Saavedra and party-list group Bayan Muna had filed the complaint on the alleged overpriced purchase of 2,310 lamps and streetlights that were installed in Mandaue, Lapu-Lapu and Cebu cities for the Asean summit last January.
Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña instructed the Cebu City Police Office Thursday to provide full security to Saavedra.
Osmeña said the City Government will assist Saavedra, who is reportedly getting threats on his life after exposing the alleged overpricing of the lamps.
“They said the program of works was altered, does it mean he altered his documents? That’s the purpose of the suspension, to prevent them from making a cover-up within the system. Now, maybe Ouano should also sue the Ombudsman for libel,” the mayor said.
The anti-graft investigating panel compared the costs of the lampposts as indicated in the programs of work and estimates (POWE) prepared by the Mandaue City Government and as reflected in the importation documents.
“The cost of each lamppost, apparently, was expanded to almost 10 times its actual cost,” panel said.
It was also found out that POWE prepared by Lapu-Lapu City was almost the same with those contained in the POWE prepared by Mandaue City.
The panel also said that the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) 7, which prepared the POWE for the procurement and installation of decorative lamps for Cebu City and Lapu-Lapu City, pegged the total cost of the lamps at P50,172 each.
It stated that based on importation documents, the cost would have amounted to only P6,737.79 each.
“The glaring difference in the actual cost and the price quoted by the said officials as supported by documents and other evidence gathered by the investigating panel constitute strong evidence of guilt,” Gutierrez said in the order.
The suspension order was sent to the Department of Interior and Local Government regional office in Cebu and Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) Secretary Manuel Bunoan for immediate implementation.
Included in the suspension order are DPWH 7 Director Roberto Lala, Assistant Directors Marlina Alvizo and Gloria Dindin, DPWH chief legal officer Agustinito Hermoso, some department heads and staff members.
Preventive suspensions are not penalties, though.
It is issued upon the recommendation of investigators and recommended only when they feel it necessary to protect the evidence, anticipating that the government officials concerned may use their position to remove all trace of the alleged crime.
And while there is a Commission on Elections prohibition against the suspension, relief and transfer of officials during the election season, cases for violation of the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices act are excluded from the ban.
Graft investigators Sarah Jo Vergara, Jane Aguilar and Sam Malazarte unanimously agreed to recommend the preventive suspension of all 19 officials impleaded, citing the need to protect the evidence.
The recommendation was approved by Ombudsman Director Canton and sent to the Tanodbayan. (KNR/LCR/OCP of Sun.Star Cebu/With Joseph C. Tubilan of Superbalita)
For more Philippine news, visit Sun.Star Cagayan de Oro. (March 30, 2007 issue)
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