MALACAÑANG on Tuesday again criticized the Office of the Ombudsman and told it to show its independence after graft raps were filed in its office against former Transportation secretary Joseph Emilio Abaya, a former stalwart of the opposition Liberal Party.
“Public office, as we often hear, is a public trust. Let this be a good reminder to all public officials to perform their official functions with competence, integrity and compassion for they are accountable in all their actions,” Presidential Spokesman Ernesto Abella told reporters. “Similarly, let this be an opportunity for the Office of the Ombudsman to show its true independence in fighting corruption in the corridors of power.”
On Monday, Transportation Undersecretary for Legal Affairs Rainier Yebra filed a graft complaint before the Office of the Ombudsman against Abaya and other former officials of the Department of Transportation and Communications for the allegedly anomalous maintenance contract for the Metro Rail Transit 3 that the department awarded to the Filipino-Korean company Busan Universal Rails Inc.
President Rodrigo Duterte had earlier accused Ombudsman Conchita Carpio Morales of enforcing “selective justice” after she allegedly failed to prosecute her supposed “yellow” allies.
Duterte criticized the Office of the Ombudsman for being “slow to act on the complaints against the friendly but quick to decide against perceived hostiles,” adding her office could not “act on complaints with cold neutrality and impartiality.”
Despite the President’s threats, Morales vowed to continue its probe into his alleged clandestine wealth.
Abella said the filing of charges against Abaya, a former president of the Liberal Party, was “long overdue.”
“Our people, especially the long-suffering commuters of MRT who would experience daily train breakdowns during their travel, surely welcome this development,” he said.
Abaya also faces four more graft cases at the Ombudsman for his involvement in the P1.72-billion Contactless Automated Fare Collection System project, the purchase of P3.8 billion worth of license plates and P3.8 billion worth of train coaches from China.
A full-blown investigation by the Senate Public Services Committee found that out of the 48 train coaches delivered, only 29 had a signaling system installed.
The committee also found that each of the trains weighed just over 49,000 kilograms, some 3,000 kg over the 46,300-kg limit under the terms of the contract.
Senator Grace Poe, chairman of the Senate Public Services Committee, said P526 million of taxpayers’ money were wasted in the purchase of light rail vehicles for the MRT-3.