Ombudsman-6 just an outpost




Iloilo City
August 8, 2014

(Attention @National Union of Peoples' Lawyers (NUPL): This investigation case is now on the lap of NUPL-Cebu due to some bureaucratic gridlock at the Office of the Ombudsman Visayas.)

I took the initiative this afternoon of going to the Office of the Ombudsman – 6 (the number means, Region VI which covers the provinces of Antique, Aklan, Capiz, Guimaras, Iloilo and Negros Occidental) to get a copy of the complaint that an innocuous organization “Movement for People Empowerment” led by a spurious character “Tomas Calderon” filed on August 4, against Bayan Muna Rep. Neri Colmenares.

The office, at Luna Street, this city, could not give one: it has nothing left; it mailed everything to the Office of the Deputy Ombudsman (Visayas) in Cebu. Ombudsman – 6 did not even bother to retain a photo-copy of it, an “office policy” where every complaint must first be sent to Cebu for “evaluation.”

Ombudsman – 6 has three lawyers on top of trained investigators who are simply emasculated and made to rely completely on Cebu, surrendering even its capacity to think, a tradition that was initiated by the unlamented Virginia Palanca-Santiago, now retired but in her heyday ranked Director IV and basking in the fictitious title “Assistant Ombudsman”. That policy is continued by Pelagio Apostol, Jr., the sitting Deputy Ombudsman (Visayas).

Mr. Lapsus Calami hits Ombudsman – 6 as an “inutile office” and “a waste of people’s money” because its staff are doing nothing other than receiving complaints and forwarding them to Cebu. It can’t even furnish people certified copies of complaints or answers but require them to personally get them in Cebu.

Limuel Celebria at one time posted his spiel against Ombudsman – 6 because, despite its array of competent personnel, it couldn't even investigate on its own without the nod of Cebu. He had filed a complaint against city officials for the illegal demolition of structures in La Paz, including the steel gate of his place which was not only outside the concrete road, but also beyond the sidewalk and electric post.

He missed the preliminary hearing because the notice, sent from Cebu, set the date for hearing on the day after he received it, and the venue was Cebu pa.

What’s the purpose of having the Ombudsman – 6 office when it's nothing more than a trading post, the one where you place and receive orders?

Kun sa Kinaray-a pa kang Antique (of which Apostol is a son): “Ano man dya, man? Daw ma-umang man takon!”

Kun sa Sinibuano pa: “Pastilan! Pesteng yawaa!

Kun sa Hiligaynon kang Capiz: “Hai, anano na ini? Bilatinana!”

Kun sa Hiligaynon ala Iloilo City and Leganes: “Bilatnibaya!”
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