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Saturday, May 24, 2008
Ex-mayor expects arrest warrant over lamppost scam
* DPWH 7 officials post bail after Sandiganbayan orders their arrest over lamppost case
CEBU CITY -- The lawyer of former Mandaue City mayor Thadeo Ouano expects the Sandiganbayan to soon issue a warrant of arrest against her client over his involvement in the alleged lamppost scam.
However, Lawyer Gloria Lastimosa-Dalawampu said that unlike the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) Central Visayas officials who went to Manila to post bail after their warrants were issued, Ouano will wait for it in Cebu.
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They will also not ask the anti-graft court to reduce the bail set or ask for the suspension of the proceedings since the Sandiganbayan has not yet acquired jurisdiction over her client.
Related stories:
Arrest order vs officials in lamppost scam out soon
Mayor in lamppost scam barred permanently
19 Cebu officials, 2 others sued over lamppost scam
It is the warrant, she said in a radio dyMF interview, that will confer jurisdiction the court's jurisdiction on Ouano.
The other updates on the lamppost scam include:
* Criminal proceedings for at least one of the seven cases filed against DPWH Central Visayas officials as a result of the Asean Summit lamppost scam are underway.
* Following the posting of bail, the Sandiganbayan Friday ordered the Office of the Special Prosecutor to comment on the motion for consolidation of cases and the motion for suspension of proceedings that the impleaded officials have filed.
* If granted, the motion will consolidate all seven cases and gave it assigned to one division.
* The motion for suspension of proceedings, on the other hand, will result in a temporary halting of the proceedings.
Former Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) Central Visayas director Roberto Lala, Assistant Directors Gloria Dindin and Marlina Alvizo, Division Chiefs Pureza Fernandez, Cresencio Bagolor, Agustinito Hermoso, Luis Galang, Restituto Diano and Buenaventura Pajo Friday posted bail before the Sandiganbayan's First Division.
Bail for the count is set at P30,000 each but the anti-graft court granted their petition for a reduction by half. Other than this count, they face six others before other divisions.
The arraignment, pre-trial and trial proper of the case will follow.
Officials from the city governments of Mandaue and Lapu-Lapu City who are separately impleaded in two of the seven counts expect that they would be next.
Dalawampu said the issuance of the warrant is simply part of the proceedings and that they have prepared for it.
"It cannot be stopped without a restraining order from the Supreme Court," she said.
The respondent officials are praying for the respite to give them time to get the Office of the Ombudsman reconsider or re-investigate the complaint that led to the filing of the charges against them.
"The information I received last night is that the Sandiganbayan did not dismiss the motion and has instead given it due course by asking the State to comment," Dalawampu said.
The issuance of the warrant of arrest against the DPWH Central Visayas officials came following the May 15 raffling of the cases all 21 people indicted over the lamppost scam.
The cases against the officials of Mandaue City, including Ouano, City Engineer Hidelisa Latonio, Assistant Engineers Gregorio Omo, Mario Gerolaga, Aflredo Sanchez Jr. and Rosalina Denque, were assigned to the 2nd and 4th Divisions, chaired by Associate Justices Edilberto Sandoval and Gregory Ong, respectively.
In the two cases, the officials from the DPWH were also impleaded together with Fabmik Construction and Equipment Supply Co. Inc. head Isabelo Braza.
Fabmik is one of the two suppliers of the allegedly overpriced lampposts.
The cases involving Lapu-Lapu City Mayor Arturo Radaza, City Engineer Julito Cuizon, and Assistant Engineers Fernando Tagaan and Rogelio Veloso, on the other hand, have been raffled off to the 5th and 1st divisions, chaired by Presiding Justice Teresita Leonardo-de Castro and Associate Justice Maria Cristina Cortez-Estrada.
The two cases likewise involve the DPWH men and Braza.
The DPWH officials were impleaded solely in three other cases, one of which is the case they posted bail for before the First Division.
The two other cases are with the 4th and 5th Divisions. They are impleaded together with Gerardo Surla of the Gampik Construction and Development Inc., the other lamppost supplier.
Tanodbayan Merceditas Gutierrez, in a resolution released last month, approved the filing of criminal charges against 21 people involved in the controversy, citing that there was enough probable cause to bring them to court.
Of the three cases that has Surla indicted alongside the DPWH people, the first is for the supposed overpricing in the supply of 360 sets of park lamps with 150-watt bulbs and 40-watt fluorescent light in ballast compartments and their installation along Juan Luna Ave. and Salinas Drive in Cebu City.
The second is for the supply of another 300 sets of the same item and their installation along the Mandaue Causeway in Mandaue City.
The third, meanwhile, was for the supply and installation of 40 more along Punta Engaño Road Network, the Terminal Building Access Road and along Patalinghug Ave., all in Lapu-Lapu City.
The transactions, which showed each unit to cost P50,000, were reflected in three separate duly signed contract identified as 06H00007, 06H00008 and 06H00048, respectively.
"(The) transaction was manifestly and grossly disadvantageous to the Republic of the Philippines as the said (individual) cost of P50,000 exceeded the prevailing price of about P4,800 per said of park lamp," the information revealed.
According to the anti-graft office, it was the DPWH which prepared the program of works and estimates for the transaction and they did it in collusion with the supplier.
The fourth case impleaded the same DPWH officials with Ouano, Latonio, Omo, Gerolaga, Sanchez, Denque and Braza.
According to case information submitted to the Sandiganbayan, the charge covers the supply of 78 sets of "single-arm" street lights tagged at P72,500 each, 58 sets of "double-arm" models of the same street light at P85,500 each, and four sets of "triple arm" units at P95,000 each, and installing them along the approaches to and vicinity of the Cebu International Convention Center in Mandaue City, along Plaridel St., W.O Seno St., Ouano Ave. and Soriano Ave., in Mandaue City.
According to the anti-graft office, the single arm and double arm units only cost P6,000 and P7,500, while the triple arm models go for P11,000.
In both cases, the Mandaue City officials were impleaded because they allegedly prepared the program of works and estimates for the transaction, in collusion with the supplier and the DPWH.
The fifth case, on the other hand, covered the supply and installation of 89 decorative lamps along W.O. Seno, C.D. Seno, Plaridel and J. Briones Sts. in Mandaue City, at P50,000 each.
Like the ones in Cebu City, the anti-graft office said, each unit cost no more than P4,800 each; making the transaction "grossly disadvantageous" to the government.
The remaining two cases impleaded the DPWH officials, Braza, Radaza and engineers Cuizon, Tagaan and Veloso.
In the first case, the respondents allegedly defrauded the government by bloating the unit cost of the 139 seven-meter single-arm and 60 nine-meter double arm street lights they installed along the Mandaue-Mactan Bridge 1 and along a segment of the road to Punta Engaño.
The figures set in the program of works and estimates, which the respondent public officials supposedly prepared in connivance with the supplier, and approved in contract 06H00050, stated that the unit price was P72,500 and P85,000 each respectively.
However, the anti-graft office said, the units cost no more than P6,000 and P7,500 each.
The second case referred to the supply and installation of 23 other single-arm and four double-arm posts along the Terminal Building Access Road and the Mactan-Angasil Road Network in Lapu-Lapu City. (KNR of Sun.Star Cebu)For more Philippine news, visit Sun.Star Cagayan de Oro. (May 24, 2008 issue)
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