Press Release
July 30, 2009

OMBUDSMAN BEING USED FOR HARASSMENT SUITS AGAINST ADMINISTRATION FOES

Senate Minority Leader Aquilino Q. Pimentel, Jr. (PDP-Laban) today accused the Office of the Ombudsman of allowing itself to be used by the administration in pursuing harassment suits or trumped-up charges against its political opponents and their associates.

Pimentel reminded the Ombudsman that it is an independent constitutional body that should be immune from political pressure and influence to ensure that the law is fairly applied for both complainants and respondents in graft cases and they are accorded due process.

"But instead of protecting the people against those who oppress them, the Office of the Ombudsman appears wittingly or unwittingly to have been used to harass government officials who are not in good terms with the President," he said.

The minority leader specifically referred to the Ombudsman's recent order suspending three officials of the Davao city government: City Administrator Wendel Avisado, City Engineer D. Gestuveo, Jr. and Engineer Yusop Jimlani.

He said he could see that the suspension smacks of political harassment because Mr. Avisado is identified with Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte.

"Mayor Duterte was a one-time ally of President Arroyo but has since fallen out of grace with her. While the case is directed against subordinates of the mayor, I understand that the political target is the mayor himself," the senator from Mindanao said.

The case against the three Davao city officials, according to Pimentel, stemmed from the removal of a concrete cement cover placed on top of a main drainage canal in the city proper. The cement cover was part of the project initiated by Speaker Prospero Nograles of the House of Representatives.

Pimentel said the cement cover project, had good intentions and probably made walking at the Nograles Park more pleasurable. The park was named Erico Nograles to give honor to the Speaker' father.

"The problem was that the project obstructed the free flow of water from the major thoroughfare of Davao City into the sea. Which caused flooding every time a heavy downpour occurred," he said.

Based on the findings of the City Engineer's Office, the concrete floor on top of the drainage canal prevented the proper drainage of excess water from the streets of Davao City.

To top it all, it appears that no permit was issued for the construction of the questioned cement cover while the naming of the structure after the Speaker's father supposedly violated an existing city ordinance.

"To make this story short, let me just say that the offending cement cover was demolished by the Office of the City Engineer on Oct. l6, 2008 with due notice to the Office of the District Engineer of the Department of Public Works and Highways," Pimentel said.

In sum, about 30 truckloads of silt, waste and garbage were removed from the blocked canal and this has reportedly eased the flooding of water in the city streets.

But Pimentel said Speaker Nograles took offense, instead of appreciating the act of the city engineer. Nograles sued Avisado, Gestuveo and Jimlani before the Office of the Ombudsman - Mindanao but later asked for the latter's inhibition so that the case could be transferred to the Ombudsman main office in Manila.

After the Office of the Ombudsman approved the transfer of the case to Manila, Deputy Ombudsman Orlando C. Casimiro ordered the suspension of the three Davao City officials.

Pimentel said while it looked like the Ombudsman did its job fairly, it turned out that Avisado and his co-respondents were not formally informed of the suspension order. They said they did not even know that a complaint had been filed against them before the Ombudsman in Manila. They said they only learned about it in the website of the Inquirer newspaper about a month after the suspension order was signed by Deputy Ombudsman Casimiro.

From July 2l, 2009, Mr. Avisado and his co-respondents have asked the Ombudsman for a certified true copy of the complaint against them and the order of preventive suspension.

All they got from Deputy Ombudsman Casimiro was a haughty reply that he "will consider the request and advise their counsel accordingly."

"Due process seems to have been thrown out of the window of the Office of the Ombudsman," Pimentel lamented.

It is for this reason, the opposition senator said, that he has asked the proper Senate committee to conduct an investigation into the actuations of the Ombudsman in this matter so that if a legislation is needed to rectify the problem, the Senate may be able to enact one.

"Moreover, it seems the Ombudsman does not apply the law against the erring local officials on an even keel if the local official is close to the President or is pretending to be close to the President. No matter what his or her infraction against

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