Ombudsman drops charges vs town mayor, contractor

CORELLA, BOHOL , Philippines   â€” The Office of the Ombudsman has dismissed both administrative and criminal charges filed against Mayor Jose Nicanor Tocmo of this town and a project contractor Perlito Husain "for lack of substantial evidence."

The 9-page decision stated: "The administrative case (docketed as OMB-V-A-11-1575-1) against respondent Jose Nicanor Tocmo for grave misconduct is hereby dismissed for lack of substantial evidence." It was signed by Ombudsman Conchita Carpio Morales and graft investigator Maria Corazon Vergara-Naraja after review by acting director Euphemia Bacalso.

The Ombudsman, in a separate decision, also junked the criminal charges against the mayor after "finding no probable cause against Tocmo and Perlito P. Husain" for violation of Section 3 paragraph (e) of Republic Act 3019 (Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act), under case no. OMB-V-C-11-0488-I.

However, both decisions may not be the end of the legal woes of the respondents when the Ombudsman directed the Public and Corruption Prevention Office (PACPO) "to conduct a fact-finding investigation into whether the sale of quarry materials extracted from Candawis, Poblacion, Corella, Bohol, was done without public auction and whether the same violates the government gratuitous permit issued to respondent Tocmo" of both cases.

The complainant, former vice mayor Vito Rapal, accused Tocmo and Husain of undertaking quarry operations at the side of a hill, which was leveled off to make way for an access road leading to Balisawa Hill, where an eco-themed-park will be established by the Tocmo administration for tourism purposes.

Rapal also alleged that Tocmo has abused his authority by the "destruction of the critical natural habitat of the tarsiers" and went out of his authority, under Municipal Resolution No. 2011-33 that authorizes the mayor only to conduct initial earth works for the opening of the road under the comprehensive development plan.

Tocmo however countered that he did not abuse his power in conducting the road access construction, insisting that the questioned area "was not made into a quarry" and that the limestone hauled by Husain was from the excavation of the road access from the hillside leading to Balisawa Hill.

The mayor argued further that the tarsier site, as pointed out by the complainant, was not the site of the tarsier habitat, which was some three kilometers away from Barangay Canapnapan, the tarsier sanctuary.

On the allegation that Husain was not authorized to haul limestone materials from the road access opening, Tocmo showed a permit issued by the governor on Dec. 29, 2010, and the hauling was stopped when the permit expired.

Tocmo rebutted the accusation of Rapal that "not a single centavo went to the municipal coffers" by showing to the Ombudsman an official receipt (no. 1204996, Aug. 12, 2011) "showing payment made to the municipality by Husain in the amount of  P17,030 for truckloads of quarry products."  (FREEMAN)