Ombudsman asked to suspend Drilon

MANILA, Philippines - After filing two plunder complaints against Senate President Franklin Drilon, former Iloilo Rep. Augusto Syjuco Jr. is now asking the Office of the Ombudsman to suspend the senator.

“With the present government position of power and influence that respondent Franklin Magtunao Drilon occupies, it is necessary that a preventive suspension be issued immediately against him pending investigation of this complaint in order to protect public interest,” Syjuco told Ombudsman Conchita Carpio-Morales.

In the second plunder complaint filed last Tuesday against Drilon, Syjuco said the Office of the Ombudsman should conduct a speedy investigation and file the necessary charges before the Sandiganbayan “considering Drilon’s propensity to use the powers and influence of his office as President of the Senate.”

“This prayer is founded on the rule that the Office of the Ombudsman must be given the opportunity to gather and prepare the facts unhindered as it is and under conditions which would ensure non-intervention and non-interference from respondents’ position of power that is readily prone to abuse,” he explained.

Syjuco filed a P65-million plunder charge against Drilon last week for the senator’s alleged involvement in irregularities in the construction of the Iloilo Justice Hall in 1992.

He accused Drilon of pocketing commissions from his own Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) that led to the construction of a structurally defective building, which was severely damaged by an earthquake last year.

Syjuco filed the second plunder complaint against the senator alleging that he again pocketed public funds in the overpriced purchase of a 16.2-hectare land in Iloilo City in 2006 using his pork barrel allocations.

Drilon described the complaints as part of a demolition job anchored on baseless accusations arising from a desperate and pathetic attempt to malign him.

Syjuco, on the other hand, said his second plunder case showed clearly how a P2.7-million rice land was purchased for P63.2 million through the manipulation of fair market value, among others.

In asking the ombudsman to issue a preventive suspension order against Drilon, he said Republic Acts 3019 and 6770 or the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act and the Plunder Law, respectively, emphasize the principle that a public office is a public trust.

“Part and parcel of this principle is a presumption that unless the public officer is suspended, he may frustrate his prosecution or commit further acts of malfeasance or both. Relatedly, the ombudsman has full discretion to select which evidence it will gather and present, free from any interference,” he stressed.

“Thus, it is most respectfully prayed of the Honorable Office that pending hearing of this case a preventive suspension be issued against the respondent Franklin Magtunao Drilon,” Syjuco said.

The militant fisherfolk alliance Pambansang Lakas ng Kilusang Mamamalakaya ng Pilipinas (Pamalakaya) on Wednesday said it is supporting the call of movie actor Robin Padilla for Drilon to resign after the senator admitted recently that he received P100 million from the controversial Disbursement Acceleration Program (DAP).

“Mr. Robin Padilla as a multi-million peso taxpayer has the right to demand the resignation or even ouster of Senate President Franklin Drilon for the highly questionable use of P100-million people’s fund courtesy of the Office of the President and the Department of Budget and Management. In fact, the actor can also demand the resignation and ouster of President Aquino and Budget Secretary Butch Abad if he wants to complete the equation of this crime of plunder and achieve for himself and for the more than 90 million Filipinos that much deserved truth, justice and accountability,” said Pamalakaya vice chairman Salvador France in a statement. – With Michelle Zoleta