THE OPPOSITION United Nationalist Alliance twitted Ombudsman Conchita Carpio Morales Friday for filing multiple charges against a former Makati City administrator who died in 2013 just to resurrect old allegations against its presidential candidate, Vice President Jeojomar Binay.
“The Ombudsman filed multiple charges against former Makati City administrator Nicanor Santiago, Jr., who has been dead for two years. This just goes to show how sloppy the Office of the Ombudsman is,” UNA communications director Joey Salgado said.
Santiago, city administrator when Binay was Makati mayor, was found liable for not filing his statement of assets, liabilities and net worth and for failing to disclose some business interests.
“The Ombudsman has sacrificed the quality of its work in their haste to perpetuate the propaganda of the administration. Shoddy research is now the norm at the Office of the Ombudsman,” Salgado added.
Salgado said the Ombudsman filed the case against the deceased former city official to revive in the media old allegations against Binay.
UNA spokesperson Mon Ilagan earlier said the Ombudsman was “overzealous” in its effort to damage the reputation of close allies and supporters of Binay.
The Office of the Ombudsman earlier filed graft charges against UNA reelectionist Cebu Rep. Gwen Garcia over the construction of the Cebu International Convention Center (CICC) in 2006.
It also affirmed the graft case against former Laguna governor ER Ejercito for an insurance agreement the municipality of Pagsanjan entered into in 2008.
On Tuesday, it also announced the indictment of former Special Action Force commander and retired police Gen. Getulio Napeñas—and UNA candidate for senator—in connection with the Mamasapano massacre in January 2015.
Salgado and Ilagan said resurrecting these charges against Binays’ allies, dead or alive, was aimed at derailing Binay’s presidential bid.
Senate Minority Leader Juan Ponce Enrile, meanwhile, said the timing of the Ombudsman’s filing of a plunder complaint against opposition vice presidential candidate Senator Ferdinand Marcos Jr. was suspect, but said it would not make a dent in the senator’s bid to become vice president.
Enrile said the plunder case would only make Marcos more determined to win votes.
He also emphasized the importance of the Ilocano vote, which would go for Marcos.
“You know, the Ilocano vote runs from the North all the way to Mindanao,” he said, noting that North Cotabato and Sultan Kudarat were Ilocano.
“He will be elected even if he is in jail,” Enrile said of Marcos.
Enrile is out on bail on a plunder charge filed against him by the Office of the Ombudsman in connection with the use of his pork barrel funds. Enrile has denied any wrongdoing. With Vito Barcelo
