CENRO officials to post bail, ask reinvestigation

CEBU, Philippines - Two officials of the Community Environment and Natural Resources Office facing graft charges before the Office of the Ombudsman-Visayas plan to post bail but are also set to file for reinvestigation with the court on Monday.

For allegedly issuing clearance to transport forest products to two shippers despite the fact that the products were misdeclared in the bill of lading, the CENRO officer-in-charge Richard Abella and forester Nolito Lapinig, were indicted for graft.

In a press conference yesterday, Abella together with his lawyer Fernando Alberica of the legal office of the Department of Environmental and Natural Resources-7, said that the case has long been dismissed and closed and they wonder why it was brought up again.

They said they have complete details of the case that started in 2004.

“We will file a bail so that they will not be arrested but we will also file a manifestation for reinvestigation because we have complete documents that would support our stand,” Alberica said.

Earlier, graft investigator Portia Suson said the transportation of lumber was not supported by documents.

Suson recommended a bail of P90,000 for Lapinig for his temporary liberty for three counts of anti-graft while Abella’s bail was set at P30,000.

The shipment consisted of 15,000 linear meters of unsplit rattan poles valued at P265,000 but was allegedly misdeclared in the bill of lading as corn grains.

The Office of the Ombudsman-Visayas initially dismissed the case filed against them by Gaudioso Rafols for insufficient evidence.

But after review the dismissal of the case was modified and the filing of charges against Lapinig and Abella was recommended while the dismissal of the case against three others was affirmed.  (FREEMAN)