Ombudsman urged to resolve Syjuco graft cases to show impartiality
The Office of the Ombudsman will lose its credibility unless it is able to resolve graft cases involving top-ranking officials of the Arroyo administration and show it is impartial in conducting its investigation.
This was the challenge hurled by Iloilo provincial administrator Manuel "Boy" Mejorada to Deputy Ombudsman (Visayas) Virginia Palanca-Santiago as he urged the anti-graft body to resolve four cases he had filed against TESDA director general Augusto "Boboy" Syjuco.
"The highly questionable manner by which the Ombudsman acted in rendering a guilty finding in two administrative cases against Governor Niel Tupas placed a big question mark over the integrity and fairness of the agency," Mejorada told reporters.
Mejorada said he had filed four cases against Syjuco over an eight-month period, with the latest on Aug. 17 last year, but none of these cases seem to be moving despite the strong evidence he had submitted to the Ombudsman.
"It's very surprising that the Ombudsman seems to be ignoring these cases that involve millions of pesos but proceeded with the speed of a bullet train to render a decision against Gov. Tupas for a measly P20,000," he said.
Mejorada said "the public image of the Ombudsman will suffer irreparable damage if it doesn't erase this strong perception that it is being used as a tool for political harassment and providing a refuge for corrupt administration officials."
The latest case he had filed against Syjuco involved the P6.2 million purchase of 1,582 units of Nokia 1100 mobile phones by the Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC) "for use of Rep. Judy Syjuco in the 2nd district of Iloilo."
Mejorada filed the complaint on Aug. 17, the first graft case lodged before the newly-opened Ombudsman extension office in Iloilo City.
"Sadly, up to this day, the Ombudsman has not even directed the respondents to submit their counter-affidavits," he said.
Aside from Syjuco, Mejorada had also named Rep. Syjuco, DOTC secretary Leandro Mendoza, and other top-ranking DOTC officials as respondents.
The case became a sensational and explosive story for local media after Sta. Barbara mayor Isabelo Maquino complained to the Commission on Audit (COA) that he never received the 1,582 units of Nokia cell phones as records at the DOTC were made to appear.
Based on records, DOTC had purchased the Nokia cell phones from a supplier who was later found to be president of NationBank, which was then owned by the Syjuco couple, for a total amount of P6.2 million.
The DOTC property inventory records were made to appear that delivery was made by Maquino upon the request of the Syjucos. As it turned out, the cell phones vanished, and the transaction is believed to be a case of "ghost delivery".
The Syjucos have kept mum about the issue until now, and the evidence submitted to the Ombudsman provide an "airtight" case against the couple, Mejorada said.
Another case filed by Mejorada was the P12-million heavy equipment scam in which Syjuco allegedly rigged the purchase of DPWH equipment and sold his own road grader, pay loader, bulldozer and dump trucks to the DPWH.
The case filed in April 2006 is the only case that moved, with the Ombudsman directing Syjuco to submit his counter-affidavit sometime in July 2006. But the case became inactive from then on, he said.
The third case involved the P3.25 million that the Tawo kag Duta sa Kauswagan Cooperative, also fully controlled by Syjuco, allegedly siphoned from the Municipality of Alimodian, filed last March 2006.
The status of the case? No movement at all, Mejorada said.
The fourth case was the alleged diversion of P4.2 million in public funds that the Department of Agriculture gave to the Tagipusuon Foundation, another NGO fully owned and controlled by the Syjuco couple.
This is the oldest case in the dockets of the Ombudsman pertaining to Syjuco, as this was filed in December 2005 yet.
Mejorada said the case had been sleeping from the time of its filing.