Balili case now with Ombudsman Manila

THE case arising from the P98.9-million Balili land fiasco against Capitol officials has been endorsed to the Ombudsman for resolution two years ago.

“The Balili case is now on the table of Ombudsman Conchita Carpio-Morales. It will be released anytime soon,” said Asst. Ombudsman for the Visayas Virginia Palanca Santiago said.

One of the complainants in the case, businessman Crisologo Saavedra, expressed his dismay over delays in the resolution of the case that allegedly defrauded the province.

Results of the investigations were sent to Manila upon the instruction of Morales’ predecessor former Ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez who mandated all local offices of the Ombudsman to transfer to the central office all cases involving governors and vice governors.

Morales took over the Ombudsman in June 2011 when Gutierrez resigned to skirt trial by the Senate after she was impeached by the House of Representatives.

Among the impeachable offenses leveled on Guiterrez was her failure to act with dispatch cases filed before her office.

The Ombudsman Visayas recommended filing charges against Cebu Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia for allegedly “entering into a contract which is manifestly and grossly disadvantageous to the government.”

It said the transaction is marked by “bad faith or gross inexcusable negligence”—a violation of Republic Act 3019 or the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act.

The anti-graft office also impleaded several other provincial officials who were involved in the transaction.

The Ombudsman Visayas conducted an inquiry for over a year before it submitted its recommendations to the Ombudsman in Manila.

In a letter he sent to Morales, Saavedra said there are reports that Ombudsman officials are trying to delay the final result of the Balili lot fiasco because of “personal, political patronage, and pressure.”

He said the delay in the resolution of the case betrays the anti corruption drive of President Benigno Aquino III.

The Capitol earlier bought 24.7 hectares of land owned by the late engineer Luis  Balili in barangay Tinaan in Naga City and paid P98.9 million.

In a technical report, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources in Central Visayas (DENR-7) confirmed that 82 percent or 20.2 hectares out of the 24.7 hectare  Balili  property in Naga was timberland or public land.

Last Aug. 14, 2009, Garcia called a press conference and apologized for the Balili deal.

She said it was a “fiasco” and added that  she had been misled about the circumstances of the property purchase by former Provincial Board (PB) member Juan Bolo.

The governor, however, said the province would continue with its plan to develop the  Balili  land into an international port and a coal ash storage area as part of its agreement with Korean power producer Kepco-Salcon.

Garcia said the purchase was still aboveboard and that fishponds and wetlands could be reclaimed and titled in the name of the province.