WHAT is it with public officials and Sandiganbayan orders?
In the province, there’s a former mayor on the run along with five town officials. Together they continue to defy the arrest warrants that were issued against them after they were convicted of graft for the purchase of more than P1 million worth of aluminum composite panels back in 2007 without a public bidding.
But before Cynthia Moreno of Aloguinsan made headlines after “losing contact” with her husband Chonse, the recently-resigned town mayor who was replaced by Vice Mayor Cesare Ignatius, who, in case you’re wondering, just happens to be their son, there was Clavel Asas-Martinez.
In August 2013, the National Bureau of Investigation 7 tried to serve arrest warrants against the former congresswoman of the fourth district, her son former Bogo City mayor Tining and former municipal treasurer Rhett Minguez. But the three could not be found.
No surprise there. Maybe they attended the same seminar the convicted Aloguinsan officials went to when police looked for them…for 10 days.
But to those who don’t remember, the Sandiganbayan ordered Clavel and company’s arrest for their alleged involvement in the transfer of government funds intended for the Girl Scouts of the Philippines to Clavel’s private account.
Come to think of it, the more than P1 million worth of aluminum composite panels Cynthia and seven others will be doing time for seems paltry compared to the P20-million plus Clavel was accused of siphoning off from her Priority Development Assistance Fund.
And consider this, at least the more than P1 million involved in Cynthia’s case can still be seen outside the Aloguinsan Municipal Hall because the money was, in fact, used to procure the aluminum composite panels.
In Clavel’s case, there was a deposit slip showing the deposit of P10 million from her pork barrel on Oct. 27, 2003 in a private bank account bearing her name. And I don’t know how many girl scouts went without whatever it was they needed that would merit a funding of millions of pesos because the organization didn’t get the money.
And yet, and it’s a big YET, Clavel was never arrested--somehow, her husband, former Bogo City mayor Junie, was able to convince the Sandiganbayan to suspend the warrants against her and Tining—while Cynthia is a fugitive with a six-year jail sentence on her head who is perpetually disqualified from public office, although cynics will scoff that in the Philippines, especially in politics, walang forever.
But do you see what I’m getting at? Forget conspiracy theories and imaginary payoffs because that’s not the point I’m trying to make.
The Morenos shouldn’t have waited for things to get so out of hand. After all, the conviction was handed out in 2014 yet.