TOWARDS the end of the year 2022, Misamis Oriental Provincial Engineer Mario Velez Batar filed a verified complaint at Ombudsman Mindanao against his boss Governor Bambi Emano and several provincial capitol officials.
The cases Batar filed are no drop in the bucket for Bambi Emano’s larger scheme of things: if convicted, it will mean the end of his political career and will weaken the hold of the Emano political dynasty.
No, Batar was not after Emano’s political head but for his accountability in violating Republic Act 7080 (Plunder Law), the Anti Graft and Corrupt Practices Act, the Government Procurement Reform Law, and the Code of Conduct and Ethical Standards for Public Officials and Employees.
Batar believed that a rigged bidding took place in 2021 for the purchase of new heavy equipment for the maintenance of provincial roads. These were graders, backhoes, roller compactors and excavators.
In meetings on the matter that the governor called sometime in February 2021, Batar had early on insisted on compliance with the Clean Air Act of 1999 that mandated the shift to Euro 4 requirement. A purchase request was prepared for Euro 4 equipment. Emano insisted otherwise: he preferred only Euro 3 or 2 equipment.
Batar insisted on compliance, Emano on downgrading.
Then the approved purchase request came. It was revised. Under “Requested by” that the provincial engineer signs, Emano instead signed. That was a blatant conflict of interest because under the line “Approved by,” the governor also signed. He approved his own request. Then Batar was removed as vice chair of the bids and awards committee.
So by downgrading, who gets to benefit what?
The total amount for the purchase was P417 million. Two bidders participated. JROG Marketing bidded for P357.8 million. Jinyi Export and Import Trading Company bidded P400 million. JROG won that bidding as the lowest bidder. But no it didn’t. It was disqualified for having no service center in Cagayan de Oro. The contract was awarded to Jinyi.
Jinyi offered heavy equipment Made in China. As Euro 3 or 2, their prices would have been lower than those of Euro 4. But no, they remained the same, besides being substandard. Which meant they were overpriced. As it is SOP in government contracts, some pockets usually benefit from the overprice.
That is the gist of the verified complaint that Batar had lodged at Ombudsman Mindanao.
Three years have passed. In the interregnum, current Misamis Oriental Governor Juliet Uy, in a speech during the flag raising ceremony at the capitol this December 1, 2025, revealed that:
“Katunga sa equipment nga China ang brand gubâ na, di na mo-andar. Wala nay pyesa.” (Half of the China-brand equipment is now out of order. There are no spare parts available.)
Why is it that after three years nothing was heard from the Ombudsman Mindanao?
The public cannot be blamed for connecting the dots regarding this delay. It is a matter of record that Deputy Ombudsman for Mindanao Anderson Ang Lo served as an undersecretary for the Presidential Management Staff, which was under the oversight of then-Special Assistant to the President Bong Go.
The Lo family’s rise in the judiciary is also well documented: Lo’s wife, Jill Rose Jaugan Lo, was appointed as a Davao RTC judge in 2016 and later promoted to the Court of Appeals in March 2022 by former President Rodrigo Duterte.
Given these deep ties, the silence from the Ombudsman is deafening. It creates a perception that must be dispelled.
We hope that Batar’s cause will be decided on its merits, and that the Ombudsman will prove that justice in Mindanao is blind to political power, rather than selective of it.
