By Ben Serrano
BUTUAN City––The Office of the Ombudsman has trashed the complaint for libel filed by a mayoral candidate and the contractor of the controversial bulk water supply project here against a councilor who questioned the deal he had with the Butuan City Water District (BCWD).
Cleared by the ombudsman from the complaint filed by construction firm executive and politician Ronnievic Lagnada was Councilor Sergio Pascual.
Lagnada, now a candidate for mayor here, bagged the contract for the BCWD’s P565-million Butuan Bulk Water Supply Project.
Pascual was charged with libel by Lagnada as a result of his tirades and a letter sent to a broadcast executive against the controversial project, saying that all that was needed was some P20 million, and not P565 million, in order to solve the water supply problem in the city.
In a six-page resolution, graft investigation and prosecution officer Marrianne Macayra stated that there was no derogatory statement in Pascual’s Jan. 13, 2014 letter to Bombo Radyo executive vice president Herman Basbano. She said the letter merely contained information, and was not derogatory.
Macayra also noted that nowhere in the letter was Lagnada or his company Equiparco Construction was mentioned. (ben serrano)
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