Ombud drops Balili admin case

ONE of several cases filed by ecology advocates against Cebu province officials over alleged lack of transparency over the 2009 Balili property purchase was dropped by the Ombudsman recently.

In a 12-page order, the Ombudsman dismissed the administrative complaint filed by the Global Legal Action Against Climate change or GLACC, saying the allegations raised were “inadequately unacceptable.”

The group filed charges of violation of Republic Act (RA) 9485 or the Anti-Red Tape Act and RA 6713 or the Code of Conduct and Ethical Standards for Public Officials and Employees against the provincial government.

The group accused Capitol officials of failing to provide public documents about the purchase of the 27-hectare Balili property in barangay Tinan-an, Naga City.

Among the respondents were Cebu Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia, the late Vice Gov. Gregorio Sanchez Jr. and Provincial Board (PB) members of 2009.

The Ombudsman agreed with the Capitol’s argument that the Anti-Red Tape Act only covers employees in the “frontline services” or those involved in the processing of applications and other documents.

Ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez disagreed that requests for documents were ignored by the Capitol and cited a a news report in which Capitol consultant Rory Jon Sepulveda announced the availability of the documents and invited the complainants get them from the office.

“It is worthy to emphasize that despite (knowing this), the (group) opted not to pick them up and instead filed this case,” the Ombudsman said.

The order added that the complainants cannot pretend to have no clue of Sepulveda’s announcement and blame Capitol on their failure to provide them with documents.

GLACC questioned the agreement signed by the Korean Electric Power Corp. (Kepco) and the provincial government for the operation of a coal plant and a coal ash facility in the Balili property.

GLACC lawyer Gloria Estenzo-Ramos said she was not surprised by the order signed by former Ombudsman Gutierrez, adding that Guttierez had lost credibility for sometime.

Gutierrez resigned last April 29, days before she was scheduled to undergo an impeachment proceeding in Congress.

Ramos said they will elevate their case to the Supreme Court.

Sepulveda told Cebu Daily News that he has not yet received the Ombudsman order and has to read it before commenting.

“Rest assured we will act appropriately. All options remain open,” Sepulveda said. With Correspondent Carmel Loise Matus