Ombud asked to stay out of plunder case

“Stay out of the case.”

This was the appeal of businessman and mayoralty candidate Efrain Pelaez Jr. to Deputy Ombudsman Pelagio Apostol a day after they exchanged heated words in  Apostol’s Office over alleged foot dragging in complaints filed by Pelaez.

Pelaez said he hopes Apostol would inhibit in handling the plunder case Pelaez filed last Friday against Rep. Arturo Radaza and Lapu-Lapu City Mayor Paz Radaza, the 17th case he filed in the anti-graft office since 2007.

“Hopefully, he’ll stay out of the case out of delicadeza,” Pelaez said.

Pelaez said he’s contemplating on filing charges against Apostol for “misbehavior” after their five-minute encounter, which started with a hand shake, turned into a heated exchange.

Apostol, who took offense at Pelaez’s earlier action of filing a complaint for misconduct against him with the Office of the President, blew his top and insisted that the Visayas Ombudsman’s Office had acted on all of Pelaez’s complaints.

Apostol, who is due to retire next year, said he would file a complaint against Pelaez for maligning his reputation.

Of the 17 complaints filed by Pelaez with the Visayas Office of the Ombudsman,  none have ended up in a Sandiganbayan trial.

Three, however, are recommended for filing in the Sandiganbayan against congressman Radaza and other officials.

A status report of 16 cases was released by Apostol to show what action was taken on them.  (Friday’s plunder case was not yet included there.)

Based on CDN files, Pelaez first filed a complaint in 2007.

Two cases are due for filing in court are against Rep. Arturo Radaza while another one is against officials of the Commission on Audit.

Four cases were deemed “closed” while two others were dismissed.

Five others are pending action, including two against Lapu Lapu City Mayor Paz Radaza for gross negligence of duty over uncollected garbage and violation of solid waste managemetn laws are “pending administrative adjudication.”

Pelaez’s plunder case reinforces an earlier complaint about “ghost employees” in Lapu-Lapu City which the Visayas Ombudsman Office in 2008 confirmed was true in the case of one woman, whose name appeared in the payroll for Clean and Green Project workers even though she was dead.

The case was recommended for filing in court and was upgraded to a formal investigation but remains in the central office in Manila.

Mayor Radaza, in a press statement, earlier denied the allegations and advised Pelaez to slow down or he may “go crazy” going into tomorrow’s elections.

Pelaez yesterday said the naming calling was irrelevant.

“Name-calling has no business here. It’s not an appropriate act especially from a government official. Calling me crazy does not solve anything,” Pelaez said.

He said Radaza should just answer the plunder charges filed against her and Congressman Radaza over the alleged ghost payrolls and employees in Lapu-Lapu City.

“You may have several projects but your reputations is a reputation of scams,” Pelaez said.

He and lawyer  Rudy Taneo last Friday filed a complaint for  plunder against the Radaza couple and barangay captains in Lapu-Lapu City over the alleged “ghost employees” in the city since 2001.

As evidence, he submitted a report from the Philippine National Police Crime Laboratory that said signatures of employees on payrolls were done by a few persons.

“Desperate. That’s the word to be used by them. Why did they file a disqualification case against me days before the elections if they are certain about their victory?,” Pelaez said.

Four days before the elections, the camp of Mayor Radaza filed a disqualification case against Pelaez for purportedly distributing food and drinks during a political rally.

Pelaez has been at odds with the Radazas over issues of corruption and uncollected garbage since 2007 when he was president of the Mactan Island Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

He requested for updates from the Department of Justice over the closure of the Rural Bank of Subangdaku which Paz Radaza used to head a president.