The election fever has started and various anti-graft agencies are being swamped by complaints, real or imagined, from both sides of the political fence.
Case in point is the councilor of a Quezon town who called on Malacañang, through the Presidential Anti-Corruption Commission, as well as the Ombudsman to admit a videotape as evidence on his complaint against a regional director of the Department of Public Works and Highways showing the latter allegedly throwing cash in the air at a party.
Councilor Arkie Manuel Yulde of Lopez, Quezon, said the PACC and the Ombudsman should use the videotape in his complaint against the public works regional director whom he accused of giving away cash worth P2 to P3 million at a party allegedly hosted by him and his wife.
The catch? Yulde is an ally of a politician who is a perceived rival of a sitting legislator.
Yulde asked the Ombudsman to investigate Public Works Ilocos Region Director Ronnel Tan for alleged violation of Republic Act 6713 or the Code of Conduct and Ethical Standards for Public Officials and Employees; RA 3019 or the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act; RA 7160 or the Local Government Code; and grave misconduct.
The catch? Ronel Tan is the husband of Quezon Rep. Angelina Tan who is on the opposite side of the political group to which Yulde belongs.
“In support of the aforesaid allegations of fact, the undersigned hereby submits the video of the said acts,” Yulde said in his manifestation at the Office of the Ombudsman on Tuesday.
“The video clearly shows the respondent, in white shirt, tossing several cash into the air while the people scramble to pick them up,” Yulde said.
“The video with the pictures (screenshots) clearly show the couple, respondent and his Congresswoman-wife Helen Tan posing on stage.
“This evidence clearly proves the ostentatious display of wealth of the respondent,” he said.
On October 29, 2020, Yulde filed a complaint-affidavit before the Ombudsman where he made allegations about the act of the tossing of millions of pesos in cash into the air for the respondent’s guests.
Earlier, Ronnel Tan denied that a party happened and that money was thrown as alleged in the Yulde’s complaint.
“Wala po, kapag may okasyon nagbibigay ng regalo kami. Ang asawa ko, congresswoman syempre kung may nahingi ng tulong… Napakarami naman ng sinasabing P3 milyon na ‘yon para ipaagaw mo nang ganon, di ba?” Tan said in a television interview.
Also, Rep. Tan earlier decried the allegations levelled against her husband, saying it “smacks of pure political harassment.
“It is not only without basis but one which we have been forewarned about, especially because it is beginning to look a lot like the 2022 elections,” Rep. Tan said in a statement issued sometime in Oct. 2020.
“I decry this move by certain political sectors who are out to besmirch the good name and reputation of our family who has done nothing but to be deeply involved in the lives of our people through the delivery of meaningful public service amid the ongoing national crisis brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic,” she added.
Tan also said then that her family welcomed the investigation on the complaints filed against her husband, noting that this would give them the opportunity to prove their detractors wrong.