Ombudsman urged to speed up probe on Alvarez’s Naia 3 case

House Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez. Photo by Noy Morcoso/INQUIRER.net

An anti-graft group on Monday prodded the Ombudsman to speed up its investigation on the criminal cases filed against Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez in connection with the construction of the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (Naia) Terminal 3.

In a letter complaint filed with the Ombudsman Monday, the group Pinoy Aksiyon for Governance and Environment (PAGE) urged Ombudsman Conchita Carpio-Morales to expedite the probe on the complaint with number OMB 0-01-0693 against Alvarez for approving a construction  contract to a firm without any public bidding.

“We write in our capacity as Filipino citizens to intervene in, or to at least supplement the plunder complaint docketed as case number OMB 0-01-0693, which was remanded to your Honorable Office by the Supreme Court in MIAA-NAIA Association of Service Operators vs. Ombudsman Desierto (473 SCRA 245),” the group said in its letter received Monday.

Quoting the high court’s ruling, the group said then Ombudsman Aniano Desierto prematurely dismissed the complaint for plunder filed against Alvarez.

“The challenged Joint Resolution of the Ombudsman in OMB-0-01-0693 is hereby set aside. The Ombudsman is directed to conduct a preliminary investigation anew of petitioner’s complaint against private respondents with dispatch,” the Supreme Court’s decision read.

Alvarez once served as Senior Assistant General Manager Chief Operating Officer of the Manila International Airport Authority (MIAA).

In response to the letter, Alvarez shrugged off the letter complaint.

“That has long been dismissed,” Alvarez said in a text message.