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CEBU CITY, Philippines - Businessman Crisologo Saavedra said that the Ombudsman has advised him to undergo a government witness protection program now that the case against 21 government officials and two civilians over allegedly overpriced lampposts was ready to be filed.
Saavedra, however, said nobody has made any direct threats against his life, so he said he would not apply just yet.
For now, he was just satisfied with the case?s progress following the decision of the Ombudsman to recommend filing cases against the accused, which include former Mandaue City mayor Thadeo Ouano and Lapu-Lapu City Mayor Arturo Radaza.
He, however, said Public Works Secretary Hermogenes Ebdane should also be indicted.
Saavedra said he believed that not all 19 officials would end up on trial. Who would be exonerated would depend on how the Ombudsman would decide on their motions for reconsideration.
He said many of the officials of DPWH in Central Visayas (DPWH-7) had no malice when they signed the lamppost project?s program of works and estimates (Powe) because they believed that the project would be turned over to the governments of cities in which the lampposts were installed.
Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan), another complainant in the case, was also appreciative of the Ombudsman?s decision.
Arman Perez, Central Visayas secretary general of Bayan-Muna Partylist ? a group under Bayan ? challenged the Ombudsman to also dig deeper into the issue and look at the involvement of national officials, since the lamppost project was a national project.
Perez also dared DPWH officials to speak out and name national officials who were involved in the project.
?If they keep silent, their futures will be at stake,? Perez said.
He said the local officials who face charges may just have been made into sacrificial lambs.
?Who has the real authority to give the go signal for this project? It?s the national government,? Perez said.
Deputy Ombudsman for the Visayas Pelagio Apostol has urged the respondents in the case to file their motions for reconsideration so that their sides could be heard as soon as possible, especially those who accused the Ombudsman?s investigation as biased.
?They can file their motion for reconsideration in the Visayas Ombudsman before going to the Court of Appeals,? Apostol said.
Joey Luis Wee, lawyer of the accused DPWH-7 officials, earlier said that the Ombudsman?s investigation was biased because it was the Visayas Ombudsman that filed the case against them when it was also the Visayas Ombudsman that approved the recommendation that was submitted to the Ombudsman in Manila.
Apart from Ouano and Radaza, included in the charges for violation of the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act were the project?s two private contractors, nine officials of the DPWH-7, and eight city engineers of Lapu-Lapu and Mandaue, including former acting Mandaue City engineer Hidelisa Latonio.
Latonio has since been succeeded by acting City Engineer Dario Mago, who was recently transferred to head the General Services Department after Mandaue City Mayor Jonas Cortes appointed a new city engineer ? Antonio Sanchez Jr.
Though he was a Cortes-appointee, Sanchez told the opposition-dominated Mandaue City Council last Wednesday that he would stay away from city politics, aware of the strained relations between Cortes and city legislators.
Sanchez, 63, promised to expose any ?shenanigans? in his office, ?even if these were done by the close kin of the mayor.?
He promised to be transparent in his work and never accept bribes or kickbacks from contractors.
?I want to look at contractors straight in the eye because I did not accept money from them,? Sanchez said. ?(Receiving money) is a habit that one can easily get into but difficult to get out of.?
After Wednesday?s council session, Majority Leader Victor Biaño told reporters that the city council would hold a special session to confirm Sanchez?s appointment, citing the engineer?s experience as an asset to the city.
Cortes said Sanchez?s experience as the former city engineer of Cebu City would greatly help in the implementation of projects in Mandaue, mostly road rehabilitation.
Sanchez retired earlier this year as Cebu City engineer, having overseen several road projects under the terms of Mayor Tomas Osmeña and former mayor Alvin Garcia.
Sanchez said that as city engineer of Mandaue, he would concentrate on road projects, and unfinished infrastructure projects undertaken by Cortes and former mayor Ouano.
He said he would also serve as an example to his subordinates by cleaning the department of corruption scandals.
In 1998, while serving under then mayor Garcia, Sanchez and other officials were charged before the Ombudsman for allegedly violating rules of procurement for a P38.9-million asphalt purchase from F. E. Zuelling Inc. The case was dismissed a few days later.
In the same year, he also faced a case for the city?s P11-million purchase of a 29-hectare, which turned out to be illegal because the land was inside a protected watershed.
