Ombudsman suspends Maliksi for 6 months

The Office of the Ombudsman suspended Cavite Gov. Ireneo "Ayong" Maliksi for six months without pay yesterday in connection with a graft complaint filed against him by Vice Gov. Juanito Victor Remulla.

Deputy Ombudsman for Luzon Victor Fernandez directed Interior and Local Government Secretary Angelo Reyes to serve the suspension order to Maliksi.

Leonilo Lariosa, Region 4 director of the Department of the Interior and Local Government, tried to serve the order yesterday afternoon, but was prevented by a crowd of Maliksi supporters who barricaded the provincial Capitol in Trece Martires City.

The suspension order stemmed from the graft complaint which Remulla filed last July 29 accusing Maliksi of purchasing P7.5 million worth of rice without any public bidding in October last year.

In its three-page suspension order, the Ombudsman said the evidence submitted by Remulla was "strong," thus meriting the governor’s six-month preventive suspension to prevent him from tampering with documents relative to the case or harass witnesses.

In a press conference yesterday, Maliksi said his suspension is "plain political harassment" by the Remulla clan allegedly in connivance with Malacañang.

Insisting that the rice purchase was above board, Maliksi denounced what he described as the "railroading" of the complaint against him in the Ombudsman.

He accused Ombudsman Simeon Marcelo of "grave abuse of authority" for failing to give him the chance to file his counter-affidavit within the normal period of 10 days.

"I will not step down until all the legal means are resolved properly," he said.

"Leaving my position in government is considered as abandoning the mandate of my people who voted me into office in the 2001 and 2004 elections," he added.

According to records, Maliksi accomplished last October a purchase request and a purchase order for 7,500 sacks of rice in favor of Capitol City Marketing (CCM) allegedly even without any prior contract.

A separate set of documents showed that Maliksi entered into eight contracts with CCM which, in turn, issued eight sales invoices. As a result, provincial treasurer Salome Landas issued checks payable to the company.

The Ombudsman, however, said it appeared to be just an "afterthought" since the provincial government even issued a certificate of emergency purchase and another certificate justifying the absence of an inspection.

The Ombudsman cited the provincial government’s claim that the sacks of rice "were distributed even without inspection because the goods were badly needed by the indigent families of the different barangays of the municipalities and cities of Cavite."

The Ombudsman said the questionable deal could not pass off as one of the "exceptionally urgent or absolutely indispensable to prevent immediate danger to, or loss of life and property or to avoid detriment to the public service."

The Ombudsman added that the rice procurement was not even awarded to the National Food Authority which had an amply supply of rice at a much cheaper price.