Ombudsman clears Clark airport exec in graft complaint

CLARK FREEPORT–The Office of the Ombudsman has denied a motion seeking to suspend the president of the state-owned Clark International Airport Corp. over the demolition of structures built by the United States government in this former military base, CIAC said on Monday.

In a resolution dated May 17 but received only late last week, acting Ombudsman Orlando Casimiro said no basis was found to relieve CIAC president and chief executive officer Victor Jose Luciano because he followed Malacañang’s orders to give scrap materials from the demolished buildings to Aetas. The resolution said Luciano and CIAC managers followed government processes in disposing of the materials.

In a text message to the INQUIRER, Luciano said he was “relieved and thankful that the truth has come out.”

“It is a humbling experience and I bear no grudges [or] bitterness against anyone … Let us now move forward because the tasks ahead are big for the Clark airport,” he said.

The complainant, Mayor Jerry Pelayo of Candaba, Pampanga, said he would file a motion for reconsideration as soon as he gets an official copy of the order.

Pelayo filed the case after he lost the two buildings he was leasing for an agricultural complex he was developing in Clark.

Pelayo said Luciano has to account for P186 million, his estimate of the sales of metal scrap obtained from 16 structures. He claimed that Luciano sold those to private contractors.

The CIAC fact-finding committee, led by former CIAC chair Nestor Mangio, estimated the losses at between P20 million and P27 million.

The “old dilapidated buildings” were donated to the Bamban Aeta Tribal Association, according to CIAC, citing portions of the order.

“It appears from the case records that there were official directives from Malacañang or the … Presidential Management Staff for such demolitions and donations to Aeta associations and the respondents merely followed the legal processes as shown by the corresponding endorsements of CIAC management and their own resident COA (Commission on Audit) auditor,” a part of the order read.