Ombudsman tells Drilon: Answer raps on overprice

MANILA, Philippines - The Office of the Ombudsman has ordered Senate President Franklin Drilon to answer a plunder charge in connection with the allegedly overpriced construction of the Iloilo Convention Center (ICC).

In two separate directives, the anti-graft agency’s preliminary investigation and administrative adjudication bureau instructed the lawmaker to file counter-affidavits responding to the criminal and administrative complaints filed by former Iloilo provincial administrator Manuel Mejorada.

Also ordered to answer the accusations were Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) Secretary Rogelio Singson, Department of Tourism (DOT) Secretary Ramon Jimenez Jr. and Tourism Infrastructure and Enterprise Zone Authority chief operating officer Mark Lapid.

Others who were directed to answer the plunder, graft, malversation, dishonesty and grave misconduct complaints were DPWH Undersecretaries Jaime Pacanan and Romeo Momo; Region VI Director Edilberto Tayao; Bids and Awards Committee (BAC) chairman Marilyn Celiz and private individuals William Coscoluella of Coscoluella and Associates and Hilmarcs Construction president Efren Canlas.

In both orders issued last Nov. 17, the respondents were directed to answer the complaints within 10 days from receipt of the same with a warning that failure to do so “shall be deemed a waiver of their right to submit controverting evidence and the investigation shall proceed accordingly.”

In the criminal case, the Office of the Ombudsman told Drilon and his fellow respondents that no motion to dismiss or bill of particulars as well as other dilatory motions would be entertained.

Mejorada, in a statement yesterday, said he received his copy of the orders last Monday and based on the directives, he now believes that Ombudsman Conchita Carpio-Morales “apparently doesn’t think my complaint is a dud.”

“It found sufficient basis in fact and law to proceed with the preliminary investigation without doing its own fact-finding as it has done in most cases,” he said.

He noted that the ombudsman has the power to dismiss outright a complaint if it has no basis in fact or law and in most instances where the evidence submitted are found incomplete, the ombudsman conducts a fact-finding investigation.

In his complaint filed on Oct. 29, Mejorada accused Drilon and other public officials and private respondents of conspiring to raise the contract price for the ICC to as much as P747 million even when its construction cost could not go above P300 million. – With Marvin Sy, Jennifer Rendon