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LAWYERS of former Mandaue City Mayor Thadeo Ouano asked the Ombudsman-Visayas to reconsider a resolution that indicted him of graft charges for the purchase and installation of the lampposts used in the 2007 Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) in Cebu.
Jonjie Gonzales, Ouano's spokesman, said they hope that their motion for reconsideration will hold the former mayor's scheduled arraignment at the Sandiganbayan after the Ombudsman re-filed the case last May.
“We are confident that Ombudsman will reverse its findings. Mayor Ouano was never mentioned in the report of the Commission on Audit (COA) for the purchase of lampposts,” Gonzales told CEBU DAILY NEWS.
Since Ouano's name was not mentioned in the COA report on the purchase and installation of P365-million worth of decorative lampposts, Gonzales said there is no reason to indict the former mayor.
“The case with the Sandiganbayan was remanded to the Ombudsman Visayas because they (anti-graft officials) said they will include the COA report (as evidence in the case). But since the COA report did not mention Mayor Ouano, then he should not be included,” Gonzales said.
He said Ouano is never a party to the transaction on the purchase of street lamps and lampposts installed for the ASEAN Summit on 2007 as shown by the COA report.
The same audit report, he said, also did not mention Lapu-Lapu City Mayor Arturo Radaza.
The Ombudsman Visayas originally filed seven cases against two contractors and several local officials with the different divisions of the Sandiganbayan in connection with the 1,800 allegedly overpriced lampposts installed in Mandaue, Cebu and Lapu-Lapu cities.
Five of the seven cases were filed with the Sandiganbayan while two are presently being investigated by the anti-graft office.
Of the five cases filed with the graft court, four were remanded to the Ombudsman Visayas for strengthening.
On May 2009, the Ombudsman Visayas re-filed the four cases back to the Sandiganbayan, including as evidence the COA report.
Of the four re-filed cases, Radaza and Ouano only appear in one case each.Reporter Ador Vincent Mayol
