Ombudsman dismisses graft cases vs Puentevella

BACOLOD CITY—Citing the unjustified delay in the investigation, the Office of the Ombudsman has dismissed the consolidated cases filed against former Bacolod Rep. Monico Puentevella and two others over the hosting of the Bacolod leg of the 2005 Southeast Asian (SEA) Games.

Cleared along with Puentevella, who was co-chair of the Bacolod SEA Games Organizing Committee (Basoc) at the time, were Edwin Javellana and Eric Loretizo, finance head and secretary general, respectively.

In a nine-page decision issued on Feb. 7 but released to the media only recently, the Ombudsman dismissed a joint resolution, dated November 2016, finding probable cause against Puentevella, Javellana and Loretizo for malversation of public funds and violation of the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act.

“For more than nine years I was subjected to a vicious trial by publicity and vilified,” Puentevella told the Inquirer.

‘Politically motivated’

“This dismissal is a vindication and only shows that the filing of those cases was politically motivated and meant to mislead the public from the success of our hosting of the SEA Games,” he added in a press statement.

The complaints against Puentevella stemmed from alleged malversation of public funds and failure to liquidate the P50.5-million budget of Basoc.

But the Ombudsman said the rights of Puentevella, president of Samahang Weightlifting ng Pilipinas, had been violated due to the “clear and unjustified delay in the fact-finding probe by the field investigation office. —CARLA P. GOMEZ