MERGED: All about the Lamp post Scandal and related issues

[Motownkid]

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murag nahilom naman intawn ni nga issue oi... dapat mabawi to ilang nakurakot ani! ka-ayahay gud nila!!!

[reclamador]

Local ombud `angry'

FOLLOWING the Sandiganbayan's dismissal of the graft charges against one of the suppliers of the Asean summit lampposts, Deputy Ombudsman for the Visayas Pelagio Apostol said they might prosecute the remaining cases.

Apostol denied yesterday that the lamppost cases were hastily filed, resulting in the dismissal of the case. He also denied they were filed because of media pressue.

In a March 16 resolution, the Sandiganbayan Second Division dismissed the charges against Isabelo Braza, president and chairman of Fabmik Construction and Equipment Supply Company Inc., after Manila-based Prosecutor Danilo Lopez stated on record that there is no case against Braza and all of the accused in the case.

A total of 21 people, including two mayors and Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) officials, were charged in five cases before the Sandiganbayan in January last year for their alleged involvement in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) summit lamppost controversy.

Braza was impleaded along with Gerardo Surla, Gampik Construction and Development Inc. chairman.

But due to the development, the lawyer of former Mandaue City mayor Thadeo Ouano said the dismissal of the case against the contractor is the end of all the other cases.

"The whole case will go down the drain," lawyer Gloria Lastimosa-Dalawampu told reporters yesterday.

She questioned how the prosecutors can establish the participation of Ouano and employees of the Office of the Mandaue City Engineer if the case against Fabmik was dismissed by the Sandiganbayan Second Division.

Apostol, for his part, said the case was strong against Fabmik.

He took offense on the admission of Lopez that there was no case against Fabmik.

He said the Visayas Ombudsman might prosecute the remaining cases against Gampik and government officials, like former mayor Ouano, Lapu-Lapu City Mayor Arturo Radaza, officials and personnel of the Mandaue City and Lapu-Lapu City engineering offices and the DPWH.

Death

The officials and the contractors were accused of padding the prices of the decorative lampposts used in the 2007 Asean summit.

Apostol, in an interview with radio dyLA yesterday, said they might collaborate with Manila-based prosecutors in pursuing the five cases filed in different divisions of the anti-graft court.

Assistant Ombudsman Virginia Palanca-Santiago was reportedly asked by Ombudsman Merceditas Guttierez to handle the case.

Santiago refused to confirm this in the same radio interview.

But for Ouano's lawyer, there is no longer a case that needs to be pursued.

"It (the dismissal) has sealed the death of the case," said Dalawampu, who is representing Ouano, Mandaue City Engineer Hidelisa Latonio, Assistant Engineers Gregorio Omo, Mario Gerolaga, Alfredo Sanchez Jr. and Rosalina Denque.

The contract, added Dalawampu, is the foundation of the case.

It was the basis for the filing of the cases, wherein the ombudsman found that the government had been put at a disadvantage when the officials entered into it.

Last year, the Office of the Ombudsman in Manila remanded two of the cases against the private defendants to the Visayas Ombudsman for case build-up.

It admitted difficulty in the prosecution of the cases. (JGA/With JECT of Superbalita)

[666satan]

wla ghpon..basta kwarta ang modagan....hehehe

[Canucks]

wla ghpon..basta kwarta ang modagan....hehehe

Mosamot gyud ug gara ang mga kurakot sa goberno kay pirmi man lusot !!!!!!!

[doydi]

lage! ana najud ni atong gobyerno doh! way kausaban mga hangol ug kwarta

[peewee_toot]

faet! mao ng dli jd mo asenso ang atong nasud. hahaiz...

[LytSlpr]

does this mean ang lapulapu off the hook na pud?

[anubiz]

haya2 sa mga naka kwarta ana oi

[peewee_toot]

^^sakto jd bro. sila ra ang bulahan. kita ang ala-ot. faet! that's philippine justice system.

[mr_kyme]

So unsa man gyud ang way pra maka likay na gyud ta sa kurakot noh?
murag wla na gyud hope gawas kn ilisan ug somethng sensitive na attitude ug kusog mo
displina...