THE Office of the Ombudsman has dismissed the complaints filed against Deputy Speaker Vincent Franco “Duke” Frasco and his wife, former Liloan mayor and now Tourism Secretary Christina Garcia-Frasco, over the delivery of ambulances for the Covid-19 emergency response in Danao City, northern Cebu.
The anti-graft office also cleared now Cebu Fifth District Provincial Board Member Michael Joseph Villamor.
The criminal and administrative complaints were filed by Danao City Barangay Captains Don Roel Arias (Looc) and Joselito Cane (Poblacion) on March 3, 2022. The two barangays were recipients of the ambulances turned over by the Frascos on February 14, 2022.
Arias and Cane said the vehicles were registered under the name of the Cebu Provincial Government.
In a SunStar Cebu report, the complainants said the respondents “illegally and unjustifiably delivered vehicles as ambulances to Barangays Looc and Poblacion” on February 14, 2022.
Arias and Cane said the donation was made to take advantage of the government’s facilities and resources to promote the political campaign of the Frascos for the May 2022 election.
The Frascos were seeking reelection to their respective posts at the time, and both won. However, Garcia-Frasco resigned as mayor after she was appointed secretary of the Department of Tourism by President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.
The barangay captains stated in their complaint that they refused to accept the vehicles since in the first place, they did not place any request for ambulances and they do not have the manpower and budget to operate the emergency vehicles.
Joint resolution
In a joint resolution approved by Ombudsman Samuel Martires on September 4, 2023, the anti-graft body dismissed the criminal complaints against the Frascos and Villamor for lack of probable cause.
The Ombudsman body also dismissed the administrative complaint against the Frasco couple for want of substantial evidence.
As for Villamor, the Ombudsman found complainants' allegations to be “insufficient and hugely lacking to support a finding of conspiracy among Villamor and public respondents (Frascos)."
In a joint statement, the Frascos said: “We welcome the Ombudsman’s dismissal of these politically charged complaints as a triumph of justice."
"The Ombusdman’s findings affirm what we have maintained all along: the complaints are baseless and filed without regard for the public good which would have been well served by much needed ambulances during the pandemic," they said.
On the allegation of complainants for violations of Section 3(a) of Republic Act (RA) 3019, or the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act, claiming that the respondents induced, influenced or forced barangay employees to commit illegal acts of using unlicensed or unpermitted ambulances, the ombudsman said that this claim “deserves scant consideration.”
The anti-graft office found that contrary to the “hearsay” and unsubstantiated allegations of the complainants, their own evidence showed that the barangay personnel welcomed the ambulances and were even delighted to have received the ambulances from Congressman Frasco.
It further said that there is no evidence that the barangay personnel actually used the ambulances especially with complainants’ admission that they immediately turned over the ambulances to the City Government of Danao.
The Ombudsman also rejected the complainants’ allegations of violations of Section 3(e) of RA 3019 and found the claims to be “without basis.”
The Ombudsman said “the records of the case” are “bereft of any indication that he (Congressman Frasco) performed his official duties through manifest partiality, evident bad faith or gross inexcusable negligence."
As to former mayor Garcia-Frasco, she “was not in the dispatch of her official duties at the time of the alleged commission of the acts complained of," according to the Ombudsman.
The Ombudsman rejected the argument that the requisite permits were not obtained or that there was negligence in the procurement of the ambulances because records in fact showed that the delivery of the ambulances came after the Province of Cebu made an urgent request for them from the National Government.
The Ombudsman lamented that at the time when the entire nation was grappling with the Covid-19 pandemic, it defies reason to fault Congressman Frasco and accuse him that the delivery of life-saving ambulances was an act of graft and corruption. It further said that the “allocation of the needed budget, as facilitated by Vincent Frasco, negates the element of bias because the delivery of ambulances was made not only for the benefit of a single or few selected barangays” and in fact extended to other barangays in other municipalities in Cebu province.
As for Garcia-Frasco’s act of accompanying her husband during the deliveries, it was clear to the Office of the Ombudsman that the same was not in the dispatch of her official duties, but simply an act of a wife celebrating Valentine’s Day while the latter was working for the good of his constituency.
The Ombudsman further said Garcia Frasco cannot be held criminally or administratively liable because she had no participation in the request and acquisition of the ambulances, she took no official participation in the delivery of the ambulances and which was not made upon her instruction as mayor of Liloan, Cebu, she attended the turnover in her private capacity as wife of the congressman and the delivery was not contingent on her presence. (SunStar Cebu/PR)