Bello says he’d lawyer for Oca if not for cabinet post

By CONG B. CORRALES
Associate Editor

A MEMBER of the Duterte cabinet yesterday said he would have volunteered to lawyer for Mayor Oscar Moreno who was slapped by another dismissal and disqualification order by the Office of the Ombudsman in connection with a graft case.

Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III, who came over to lead the 119th Independence Day celebration here, told a crowd at Divisoria he would gladly volunteer to represent Moreno if only he was not in the government.

Bello started his keynote speech by expressing his support to Moreno and frowning over the Office of the Ombudsman’s order.

“Ayaw yata ng Ombudsman ng mabait at masipag,” Bello told the audience at Kiosko Kagawasan in Divisoria, this city. “Kung libre lang ako, mo-volunteer gyud ko na imong abogado ug mudaog gyud kita.”

The pronouncement of Bello, who cancelled his Geneva trip for an international labor conference to grace the Independence Day commemoration here, drew applause from Moreno supporters in the audience.

Moreno thanked Bello for his expression of support and, in jest, said he would like to ask for a copy of Bello’s speech so he could print it. The remark drew laughter and applause from the audience again.

The Office of the Ombudsman has ruled to bring Moreno to the anti-graft court in connection with the capitol’s rental of heavy equipment without going through a bidding process when he was Misamis Oriental’s governor. He was also slapped with an order for his dismissal and perpetual disqualification from public office, the second since 2015.

The graft case against Moreno stemmed from the complaint filed by Antonio Nuñez Jr., husband of a lawyer identified with Padayon Pilipino members.

Moreno’s lawyer Dale Bryan Mordeno earlier said the mayor was preparing to appeal the ombudsman’s decision.