A computer scam that we didn’t know about?

We read a FREEMAN report that a resident of Barangay Labangon wrote to Ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez asking her to investigate a case wherein he alleged that the Office of the Ombudsman in the Visayas may have been remiss in dismissing a complaint on the procurement of computers. This piece of news is quite intriguing because it talks about a possible corruption within the Office of the Ombudsman, the very government body tasked to fight graft and corruption!

Apparently there are two complaints that were filed at the Office of the Ombudsman in the Visayas, one against Carreta Barangay Councilman Antonio Conahap against Barangay Captain Mariano Ando while another complaint was by Mariano Nadera filed against Rep. Raul del Mar, former Barangay Captain Helen Bolabola and an official of the Global Trade Development Corp. that supplied computers for the Barangay of the North.

What caught my eye was the complaint by Mariano Nadera was against Rep. Raul del Mar, that computers allegedly bought at P100,000 were distributed to the barangays of the North District. He alleged that these computers cost only P39,000 each way back in 2002. Shades of the Lapu-Lapu City computer scam! We didn’t know about this until now.

But what is even more intriguing is that these two cases were dismissed by then Ombudsman Primo Miro upon the recommendation of Virginia Santiago Palanca for lack of evidence. If my memory serves me, this is the first time I have heard of a graft case filed against Rep. Raul del Mar. Was there some kind of haste on the part of the Ombudsman to dismiss this case or was there some kind of wheeling dealing within the Office of the Ombudsman?

The Office of the Ombudsman is just another government office and in an era where corruption in this country has become endemic, many of our people are losing hope that we are not getting any justice because corruption has also plagued the Justice Department. When there’s smoke in the Office of the Ombudsman, there must be a fire!

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A couple of weeks ago we wrote a lot about the issue on Religious Freedom, which has apparently become a favorite chit-chat of coffeehouse habitués. I thought by now, this issue was already over and done with, until I got an email from someone who requested not to print his name.

“Dear Mr. Avila, I followed your column about religious freedom in a school here in Cebu. The foreigner PE teacher involved in the Don Bosco incident (and in another incident in Brent Baguio) is now charged in a criminal lawsuit filed by the parents of a child who was manhandled by this PE teacher in school.

On the recommendation of the school superintendent, the foreigner-dominated Board of Trustees of the school agreed to pay for the defense of this teacher. There is something terribly wrong when the school superintendent (and the school Board for that matter) harbors and defends someone accused of a criminal offense against one of its own students they are suppose to protect.

 This superintendent has always defended this PE teacher, to the extent of covering up for his misdeeds. People wondered why he would go to such extent, even to the risk of compromising his position in the school.

But while we can understand the fondness of the superintendent with this PE teacher, it does not explain the blind support that the Board of Trustees give to whatever the superintendent does. There is talk in school that the son of the former chair of the Board is a bully and should have already been kicked out of school, but the superintendent covers up for the boy in return for the father’s support in the Board.

There is also talk that the son of a current chairman got an important award from the school, even if there were reportedly more deserving students for that award. This made many people wonder why he got this very important award, given his so-so performance. Also, the boy apparently did not even make it to any of the universities he applied for. Apparently, the superintendent decided on his own to give the award to the boy as a favor to the father to get his support in the Board. There is also talk that the superintendent knows a lot of things about the other foreigners of the Board that he can use against them. The people should know the moral decay that goes on among the officials of this school. Thank you. Please withhold my name and address for security reasons.”