THE Office of the Ombudsman Visayas asked Bacolod City Councilor Carlos Jose Lopez to submit documents in relation to the complaint he filed against the city mayor and a former city legal officer.
Lopez accused Bacolod City Mayor Monico Puentevella and former City Legal Officer Rayfrando Diaz II for allegedly meddling into the Commission on Audit’s (COA) investigation relative to the Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) disbursed by Puentevella when he was still congressman.
In his letter dated September 3, Deputy Ombudsman for the Visayas Paul Elmer Clemente requested Lopez to submit to the Ombudsman Regional Office sworn statements of his witnesses and government-issued IDs, original and/or certified true copies of supporting documents, and all other documents related to his complaint.
Diaz had earlier demanded that the COA audit team leader immediately cease and desist from what he called their “partisan and malicious” investigation of the fertilizer fund scam involving Puentevella.
Diaz was referring to the letter of State Auditor Gloria Melba Joy Payofelin dated January 15 seeking the assistance of Lopez in the gathering of beneficiaries to facilitate confirmation of receipt of farm inputs out of the PDAF of Puentevella released to the National Organization for Agricultural Enhancements and Productivity Inc.
In his letter to Payofelin dated January 19, Diaz said that Puentevella, his client, finds her investigation malicious and tainted with evident bad faith, considering the fact that the investigation on the alleged transaction of the Department of Agriculture with the National Organization for Agricultural Enhancements and Productivity Inc. has already been closed and terminated.
He claimed that his client laments that the COA official is obviously colluding and conspiring with Lopez, who has filed numerous complaints against the mayor. (CNC)