Nene frowns over ombudsman ruling

By NITZ ARANCON
Correspondent

FORMER mayor and Senate president Aquilino Pimentel Jr. yesterday came to the defense of Mayor Oscar Moreno even as the local chief executive appealed the ombudsman’s decision to dismiss him from the service and bar him from holding public office for life.

Pimentel broke his silence, and urged Ombudsman Conchita Carpio Morales to look into the circumstances surrounding Moreno’s “missing” counter-affidavit.

In its decision, the Office of the Ombudsman stated that Moreno failed to submit his counter-affidavit in connection with the case filed by former Taglimao William Guialani who accused the mayor and city treasurer Glenn Bañez of lowering Ajinomoto Philippines’s local taxes through a settlement without the approval of the city council.

Moreno has strongly denied that he failed to submit his counter-affidavit even as he showed proof that the document was received by the Office of the Ombudsman in April, a month after Guialani filed his complaint.

Pimentel said Morales should start an investigation, and determine the reason who investigators in the Office of the Ombudsman missed Moreno’s counter-affidavit.

The former senator made the call about the same time Moreno’s legal team filed a motion for reconsideration on behalf of the mayor yesterday.

Pimentel said, “Dako kini nga issue nga angay mataw-an gayud sa ombudsman kay dili mahimo nga ang mayor sa Cagayan de Oro ila lang itulod-tulod nga ma-o ra ug sila ra ang gabo-ot. Dili man kana mahimo.”

He said the Office of the Ombudsman would need to be held accountable for its decision if established that Moreno was not accorded due process of law “kay wala may hari dinhi sa Pilipinas karon… sa una na-a, pero karon wala nay hari-hari dinhi.”

Pimentel, a lawyer, said the mere fact that the decision was made without investigators going over Moreno’s counter-affidavit when it was submitted as early as April makes the ruling questionable.

He said Moreno, like all Filipino citizens, has constitutional rights that the Office of the Ombudsman should respect and uphold.

One of Moreno’s lawyers, Bryan Dale Mordeno, led a legal team in filing a motion for reconsideration on behalf of the mayor.

“Hopefully, within the period of three days, they would be able to act on the motion for reconsideration, and resolve this,” said Mordeno during the Monday gathering at the city hall grounds yesterday morning.

Mordeno called on city hall officials and employees: “Tabang intawon kamog ampo nga unta si Honorable Conchita Morales Carpio  lamdagan sa atong Gino-o.”

Mordeno said the decision to dismiss the mayor was a mistake, arguing that Moreno was unaware of the settlement between city treasurer Glenn Bañez and Ajinomoto.

The out-of-court settlement resulted in the lowering of Ajinomoto’s local taxes from P2.9 million to P300 thousand.

But even then, Mordeno said, the compromise agreement was not a contract, and therefore, there was no need for an ordinance from the city council.

He said Bañez has the authority to assess local taxes based on Section 195 of the Local Government Code.

“Let’s make it clear that an agreement is not a contract. The agreement was on the assessment of the taxes made by the treasurer and the taxpayer at the mediation center, and that became the basis for a judgment,” said Mordeno.

He also pointed out that the case was not about graft and corruption. “Dili ta ma-ulaw sa atong mayor, wala siya gisumbong kay nangorakot siya.”