Warrant out for Osmeña for Perdido Lex scam

The Sandiganbayan has a standing  warrant of arrest issued against former Cebu Vice Gov. John Gregory “John-John” Osmeña to compel him to explain his role in a bogus  foundation that received P 5million in provincial funds.

The bachelor son of former senator John H. Osmeña is living in the United States, where he transferred after 2004.

“He’s  been staying in Denver, Colorado since 2004,”  his father told Cebu Daily News yesterday.

The National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) in Central Visayas, one of the agencies tapped in the case, is ready with the  warrant of arrest in case the ex-governor and other respondents show up.

Last Thursday,  NBI agents arrested one of the respondents, provincial accountant Marieto Ypil at the Capitol. He was  released after posting  P30,000 bail.

Ypil was earlier meted a three-month suspension by the Office of the Ombudsman which found him liable for neglect of duty after he  failed to thoroughly review the supporting documents before the preparation of the vouchers for the release of  provincial  funds to Perdido Lex Foundation Inc in 2002.

NBI Regional Director Antonio Pagatpat declined to comment on the case. He said  he has yet to  familiarize himself with the case since he  assumed his post last January.

In a phone interview, former senator Osmeña said he was not aware of the progress of the case and that his son’s lawyer was attending to it.

“I do not know anything,” he told Cebu Daily News.

The elder Osmeña said his son has been  in the United States since losing in his gubernatorial bid in 2004.

The young Osmeña and eight other persons were charged with graft before the Sandiganbayan for the alleged misuse of  P5 million in public funds in 2002. He was a member of the Cebu provincial board at the time.

Also charged for violating Republic Act 3019 or the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act were former Provincial Boardmember Victor Maambong, provincial accountant Marieto Ypil, Osmeña’s chief of staff Willie Mulla, and private defendants Milagros Herrera, Fe Tan, Nancy Sia, Veronica Caceres and Teodora Limcangco.

The private defendants were  incorporators of the Perdido Lex Foundation Inc.

Former PB member  Maambong was ordered dismissed from public office but since he already relinquished his post, the order was mooted by virtue of the Aguinaldo Doctrine.

Mulla was accused of assisting Milagros Herrera, a representative of  Perdido Lex , in collecting P5 million from the province , purportedly for the for the foundation’s educational programs for the marginalized youth of the province.

The anti-graft office said the order against Mulla could be implemented in the matter of forfeiture of whatever monetary benefits due him and the implementation of the perpetual disqualification to hold public office.

Mulla even implicated Cebu Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia, saying the Perdido Lex scam was a scheme to raise money to finance the governor’s candidacy in 2004.

Governor Garcia, however, denied Mulla’s allegations in her counter-affidavit she filed at the Visayas Ombudsman in 2004.

WHAT HAPPENED BEFORE

In 2004, the Ombudsman conducted an investigation motu propio after Cebu Daily News published a story on the involvement of Capitol officials in the Perdido Lex scam.

The provincial government  released the money to Perdido Lex, supposedly to fund its computer education program for Cebu youths.

The P5 million was allegedly sourced from the discretionary funds of then Vice Gov. Osmeña.

The foundation with  five incorporators namely Milagros Herrera, Fe Tan, Nancy Sia, Veronica Caceres, and Teodofra Limcangco,  was resistered as a non-stock, non-profit organization.

The province also accredited the foundation.

In 2002, the board passed a resolution authorizing then Gov. Pablo Garcia to enter into a memorandum of agreement with the foundation officials so they can avail of  financial aid from the Capitol.

Maambong, in his capacity as chairman of the Committee on Cooperatives and NGO accreditation, submitted a report that Perdido Lex’s application had substantially complied with  requirements of the law.

It turned out later that the foundation was non-existent.