Power grab, separation anxiety

Bencyrus Ellorin

YES, the Ombudsman has denied the motion for reconsideration of Mayor Oscar Moreno and acting treasurer Glenn Banez against their dismissal and perpetual disqualification from office over the Ajinomoto tax settlement case.

But hold your horses, the fat lady is not singing yet. Moreno and Banez still have legal remedies available to reverse the ruling so that justice will truly be served.

In a ruling dated June 22, 2016, the Court of Appeals (CA) ruled adversely on Vice Mayor Caesar Ian Acenas’s Motion to Leave to Intervene on the petitions for Certiorari filed by Moreno and Banez on the dismissal decision of the Ombudsman over the Ajinomoto case.

Associate Justice Edgardo A. Camello laid down in clear terms that as long as Moreno exhausts all legal remedies to his dismissal, there is no vacancy to speak of. Not even a dismissal by the Ombudsman of his motion for reconsideration.

“It is true that the Ombudsman’s Decision has called for immediate execution of petitioner Moreno’s dismissal order, but while the dismissal order was made executory, it was never final. Appeal is even available to petitioner Moreno,” Camello wrote.

Moreno’s chief legal counsel Dale Bryan Mordeno said Moreno is definitely appealing his case in the CA and up to the Supreme Court if necessary.

“In fine, it is inevitable to conclude that since there was no vacancy to speak of in the Office of the City Mayor of Cagayan de Oro, the intervenor has no right to the mayoral office. He has no right or interest to protect to entitle him to intervene in these consolidated cases,” Camello stated in the disposition portion of 15-page resolution.

While the Ombudsman’s earnest efforts to rid government of misfits is laudable, maybe a word of caution is in order. In its crusade, the Ombudsman cannot and should not be reckless in doing its work. It should give justice, not injustice and should never persecute. The Ombudsman owes its existence to the people, the sovereign. A single injustice, as its decision in the Ajinomoto case does on the mayor, betrays its public trust.

Expectedly, Moreno’s political rivals are just too excited to pounce on him using the Ombudsman’s ruling. This overzealousness is giving them away — that they are not after justice, but lusting for power.

But make no mistake about a politician like that defeated vice mayor and that shady character who failed in his rent-seeking ventures at City Hall. They are not crusaders for good governance.

One is a power-grabbing puppet, having severe episodes of separation anxiety knowing he would be a nobody today after 22 years as an elected official. The other, a bungling operator who admits bribing government officials in his shady deals. A no-gooder exploiting the Office of the Ombudsman’s weaknesses. Ah, forget about that sweet sounding name of a lady who had and still is salivating for power and more power. She is melting in her own drool.

And above them is a disgraced demigod, a fading political kingpin who was rejected by the people of Cagayan de Oro not ones, but twice.

Moreno’s and Bañez’s troubles began after the latter reclassified Ajinomoto’s product from “essential” to “nonessential” in an effort to enhance the city’s revenue collection.

Bañez noted that Ajinomoto’s product was wrongly classified as an essential product, depriving the city from collecting a higher tax rate.

In Moreno’s counter affidavit which Moreno said was not privy to the Ajinomoto tax collection case as it part of was purely tax collection process which was within the powers of Banez. He only knew of the issue when the case was filed. Upon studying the case, he even congratulated Banez for his efforts to collect the correct taxes, arguing further that the city coffers even gained P300,000.

Banez noted that Ajinomoto had been paying taxes from 2006-2011 based on the wrong classification and the P2.9 million covers the tax payment deficiency, surcharge, and interest of the corporation for the period which could not be otherwise retroactively collected.

Ajinomoto questioned the retroactive collection in court. The court however referred the case to the Philippine Mediation Court, where Ajinomoto and Banez agreed to the payment of only P300,000.

Moreno and Banez said that City Hall even gained P300,000 in additional taxes from Ajinomoto. They also argued that the settlement was part of a purely tax valuation process which is within the powers of Banez and not a contract that would require authorization from the City Council as alleged by complainant William Guialani. But Moreno’s defense was not considered by the Ombudsman, not ones, but twice as his counter-affidavit was (1) missing in the case file and (2) when he submitted a counter-affidavit stamped “received” by the Ombudsman in his motion for reconsideration, the ombudsman ruled, he failed to submit the original. Moreno maintained he has with him the original which he could have shown to the Ombudsman had it asked for it. He is “guarding it with his life,” he said. It is understandable especially with the earlier incident of his counter-affidavit gone missing.

The Ajinomoto case was a fourth in a string of eight cases filed by Guialani, a former barangay captain of Taglimao who tried to get monetary compensation for the firm New Wishing Star Trading Corp., which secured a contract to run the Carmen Market but was later rescinded by City Hall.

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“Fastlanes” feels at home with the Mindanao Gold Star Daily. Years back when I parked my pen for grassroots development and environmental advocacy work, Herbie Gomez asked why I am not writing a column on a regular basis. In answer to Herbie’s question, “Fastlanes” was born.

Kudos to the people at Mindanao Gold Star Daily for their perseverance and resilience in surviving hostile environment for print media at this digital age. But at 27 years old, this newspaper will surely adapt to new media challenges while maintaining its community flavor.

Salud most especially to Mr. Toto Chu for keeping the faith in the print media; to Herbie and his newsroom crew of diverse and queer people; the people behind the machine that changed how ideas were kept and shared–the press; and to those pumping lifeblood to the newspaper, the advertising and marketing staff.