“Who employed this man’s services? For how much? Is it worth it?”
Filing legal suits, criminal or civil, is supposed to be our defense against people who abuse, assault, malign, defraud or whatever attack someone might instigate against us. Unfortunately, this legal remedy accorded to us, is being abused by some individuals to persecute rivals, political or personal, or even scam others. They have weaponized the filing of legal cases in furtherance of their wicked agenda.
While in some cases, the ending results in a favorable result for the target victims, in some, it is not.
Take the cases of Eastern Samar Governor Ben Evardone, Lopez, Quezon Councilor Arkie Manuel Yulde and Sec. Raul Lambino, Cagayan Economic Zone Authority current Administrator and Chief Executive Officer.
In Evardone’s case, there is reason to celebrate as after four years, the graft and misconduct charges before the Office of the Ombudsman have finally been dismissed for lack of merits.
The complaints against the Easter Samar Governor were filed on January 14, 2018 by a certain Edilberto Grata Jr., citing a notice of disallowance issued by the Commission on Audit regional office.
Grata questioned the propriety of Evardone’s approval of a cash advance amounting to P5.37 million for payment of transportation expenses of village officials for their Community Based Monitoring System and Good Governance Orientation Seminar in Baguio City.
However, in its resolution, the Ombudsman however said Evardone was just discharging his duties when he approved the disbursement for the seminar’s expense, as it clarified that that mere issuance of a notice of disallowance alone does not automatically tantamount to manifest partiality, evident bad faith, or gross inexcusable negligence.
A visibly elated Evardone remarked that “the Ombudsman’s decision is a clear affirmation that I did not commit any misconduct or acted in bad faith as alleged in the complaint which was obviously very politically motivated.”
In this particular instance, Grata, who tried to vilify and persecute Evardone by misinterpreting the provisions of the law, failed.
Unfortunately, that was not the case of Yulde.
Sometime last year, Yulde was slapped with two counts of rape charges, one in Pasig and one in Rosales in Pangasinan.
These twin charges landed Yulde’s five months in imprison and resulted in the death of both his parents, having suffered from stress and depression from the fate that befell their son.
Fortunately, lawyer Freddie Villamor said that cases were dismissed after it turned out the complainants themselves were fictitious and the complaints were deemed fabricated.
Lambino also suffered the same misfortune after he and his wife were slapped with rape and maltreatment of their house maid.
Lambino bared he a victim of a bogus complaint for ten counts of rape of a minor was filed against him at the Prosecutor’s Office by an alleged former house helper, through the help of one Prof. Singson-De Guzman
And guess who was behind the filing of the charges against Yulde and Lambino?
In a press briefing held at the National Press Club, Undersecretary Joel Egco of the Presidential Task Force on Media Security identified the mastermind of the scam as, ironically, a member of the media, Jaime Aquino.
According to Egco, Aquino is engaged in a “modus operandi” that targeted public officials through the filing of bogus criminal complaints using fictitious complainants, all with the assistance of a certain Prof. Salvador Singson – De Guzman who represented himself to be the Chairman of “Citizens Movement Against Crime, Corruption, Illegal Drugs and Gambling Inc.
The PTFOMS head said that there is enough evidence to conclude that Prof. Singson-De Guzman is no other than Aquino himself who uses the alter-ego to conduct his “nefarious” scheme known in media circles as “AC-DC” or Attack and Collect, Defend and Collect as PCPT Jervel Rillorta and PMAJ Katelyne May Awingan of the Pangasinan Provincial Police Office of the Philippine National Police have confirmed that Aquino and Prof. Singson De Guzman is one and the same person after conducting an initial probe.
Egco furthers that the modus operandi was reported to have been employed by Aquino against jueteng whistle-blower Lingayen-Dagupan Archbishop Oscar Cruz when he accused the prelate of sexual abuse.
If the allegations against Aquino are true, this could be the most horrible and dastardly act ever employed by someone for whatever their end goal is. Who employed his services? For how much? Is it worth it? Two lives lost and immeasurable sufferings brought upon his victims?
I have no idea how he can repay them. But I promise to deal with this issue more as soon as I get more details.