DISMAYED by the granting of bail by the Sandiganbayan to former senator Bong Revilla, youth group Samahan ng Progresibong Kabataan (Spark) demanded that the Ombudsman disclose the status of the cases to be filed against all government officials involved in corruption to the public.
The group noted that after the Sandiganbayan allowed Revilla’s P1-million bail in a malversation case filed against him having failed to establish “a strong evidence of guilt,” the Ombudsman owes the public the ability to exercise scrutiny and accountability over their investigatory and prosecutorial abilities.
“The Office of the Ombudsman has clearly failed to convince both the public and the courts of the strength of their anti-corruption cases. Taxpayers do not need any more of Boying Remulla’s papogi press conferences, but rather a transparent, and comprehensive report of all the case build-ups tied to graft and corruption,” the group said.
The youth highlighted that the cases of Senators Francis Escudero and Joel Villanueva, are of note, among other senators initially implicated in the flood control corruption scandal and have since become allies of the Marcos administration.
“The Ombudsman is yet to actually prove its crusade for justice is not politically motivated and blind to partisan interests. If so, then they must be unafraid to also highlight their investigations into various officials, including previous and current Cabinet members who were implicated yet have received little to no scrutiny since then,” the group said.
Spark stated these individuals include Education Secretary Edgardo Angara, former Budget and Management secretary Amenah Pangandaman, former presidential assistant for the Visayas Terence Calatrava, former education undersecretary Trygve Olaivar, former Justice undersecretary Jojo Cadiz, former executive secretary Lucas Bersamin, former legislative liaison Adrian Bersamin, and former envoy Maynard Ngu, among others.
The group asserted that unless drastic action would be done by the Ombudsman, the only legacy of the government on the anti-corruption front would be a permanent lack of urgency given the year-long delay over the progress of outstanding corruption cases.
“It is no wonder why the public has lost confidence in Remulla, Marcos, and the government as a whole ever since the Investigative Commission for Infrastructure concluded their probe in March. If the Ombudsman cannot even give this assurance of transparency, then justice will not be achieved in the courts but through a people’s uprising that will cast away both corrupt and incompetent officials,” Spark said. (PR)