Pet Melliza

The Beekeeper BY PET MELLIZA Virginia Palanca-Santiago's exercise of raw power (18) Virginia Palanca-Santiago's unusual haste to “solve” the case People's Graftwatch of Iloilo versus jaime Esmeralda, et al, invites suspicion. Even while the answer of Esmeralda et al were in transitu to Cebu, they already received a six-month preventive suspension order dated March 14, 2005. It was signed by then Ombudsman for the Visayas Primo Miro but there is strong reason to believe that it was the handiwork of his assistant, Virginia Palanca-Santiago, who was already Western Visayas Director of the office based in Iloilo City. At that time, Miro, already too debilitated by an illness aggravated by his alcohol habit, was no longer in charge. He had one trait – he could not write a single English sentence without incurring a hundred crimes against grammar and logic. The one de facto running the show than was Virginia Palanca-Santiago. There were far more grave cases...

The Beekeeper BY PET MELLIZA Virginia Palanca-Santiago's exercise of raw power (17) Virginia Palanca-Santiago, the woman who should be addressed to as “Honorable” being the assistant ombudsman for the Visayas and concurrently, regional director of the Office of the Ombudsman in Western Visayas, scarcely shows her face in Iloilo these days. Further, her office no longer accepts my pleadings; her subordinates told me to mail them directly to the Cebu office on the lame excuse that receiving pleadings at the Iloilo office “affect” the reglamentary period of responding to pleadings. I don't know how receiving documents by the Iloilo office reduces the reglamentary period. In this IT age, Virginia Palanca-Santiago can make use of the internet, fax machine or telephone in transmitting the contents of any pleading. Besides, the Iloilo office has an in-house lawyer to answer the pleading in her behalf. We are inclined to suspect that the reason why the Iloilo office of the Ombudsman no...