Who is Moreno’s latest accuser?

By NITZ ARANCON
and JOEY NACALABAN
Correspondents . 

THE man who filed a complaint for plunder against Mayor Oscar Moreno last month has long been passing himself off as a mediaman but no one in the local media community regard him as such — and neither do they take him seriously nor vouch that he is credible.

Michael James Pada has never been known for doing serious journalism or commentary but last month, he made quite a stir when he filed a complaint against Moreno before the Office of the Ombudsman.

In his Jan. 24 complaint, Pada accused the mayor of committing plunder along with city accountant Beda Joy Elot, city budget officer Percy Salazar, former city treasurer Glenn Bañez and former city schools superintendent Elena Borcillo. Pada asked the ombudsman to charge the officials before the anti-graft court Sandiganbayan for the alleged overpricing of classroom construction projects.

In his five-page complaint, Pada accused Moreno and the other officials of overpricing the construction of school buildings with 508 classrooms.

The projects, according to Pada, amounted to over P500 million or about P900 thousand to P1.2 million per classroom.

The complaint is no laughing matter but for many of the city’s more seasoned mediapeople, Pada is.

Former Cagayan de Oro Press Club (COPC) president Manuel Jaudian laughed when he learned that Moreno’s latest accuser is Pada.

Dr. Jaudian said the fact that it was filed by Pada made the complaint suspect.

Jaudian described Pada as someone who presents himself as a media practitioner in order to get “free lunch” and who conspicuously becomes active in local media circles from time to time especially during election seasons.

Jaudian said Pada has long been known as one of those who frequent government offices like the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) where they present themselves as mediamen.

Another former COPC president Eduardo Montalvan described Pada as “walay klaro nga sa sakop sa media.”

“Ambot kay hag-as man lang na siya mi-abot dinhi ug nagsulat-sulat kunohay,” said Montalvan, who is now the chairman of the Cagayan de Oro Water District (COWD).

Veteran broadcaster Joe Felicilda said Pada used to be a media practitioner in Zamboanga who married a woman from Tagoloan town in Misamis Oriental.

Former broadcaster Rene Malferrari said Pada used to edit the now defunct Golden Sun, supposedly a weekly newspaper in the city that was owned by Councilor Leon Gan.

The newspaper was in circulation for only a few months.

Malferrari said what he knows is that Pada is no longer an active media practitioner.

Another former broadcaster, Joy Apolinario, said she remembered that Pada used to edit the weekly newspaper Golden Banner but she is unaware if he was taken back in.

COPC’s office secretary, Ruth Cunanan, said Pada is not a member of the city’s premier news media organization but he supposedly writes an opinion column now for the Golden Banner.

The weekly paper is published by lawyer Gil Banaag, a congressional candidate of the Hugpong Federal ng Pilipinas in the city’s 1st District. In 2016, Banaag ran for city councilor under former congressman Rufus Rodriguez’s Centrist Democratic Party ticket. He lost.

For Montalvan and Jaudian, Pada’s complaint is electionelated.

City administrator Teodoro Sabuga-a Jr. dismissed Pada’s complaint as the handiwork of the local opposition which he accused of being behind a systematic disinformation campaign against Moreno.

He said several audit reports have shown that the projects being questioned were even cheaper, and city hall is confident that the complaint would be dismissed.

Sabuga-a said all the expenses for building the 508 classrooms passed government audit procedures.

He said documents would even show that the cost of contract is even below the evaluated cost of the Commission on Audit (COA).

For instance, Sabuga-a said, a July 19, 2016 technical evalution report for infrastructure projects done by the COA on the 46-classroom, four-story building project at the Bugo National High School found the classrooms cheaper than usual.

He said the evaluation team concluded that the P66.994-million contract cost and P66.999-million approved budget for the contract “were both lower than the COA evaluated cost.”

Sabuga-a said the evaluation was made by Engr. Irving Ballentos, a state auditor, and affirmed by COA regional director Emedeta Legara.

The 46-classroom building project cited by Sabuga-a is among the projects questioned by Pada.