Ombudsman -RO6 Office of the Quack Investigator
Something sinister lurks in this office: remnants of Virginia Palanca-Santiago or at least the tradition of arbitrariness and capriciousness she left behind is still much around. In short, that office still reeks of official abuse, which in the final analysis, is also a form of corruption that the Ombudsman is supposed to weed out.
Iloilo City Kgd. Joshua Alim said he once wrote in behalf of his client asking for investigation against a public official. The Ombdusman Region 6 Office (then headed by Virginia Palanca-Santiago) dismissed his complaint because it was not verified or notarized.
He refiled it this time with a formal, verified complaint. “I thought, even unsigned tips are considered material hence must be given due course by the Ombudsman,” heaves Alim.
Lately, Dr. Jaime Esmeralda, MD, former vice-mayor and former mayor of Igbaras, Iloilo, received a notice from Ombudsman –RO6 ordering him to answer in 15 days a criminal complaint filed by the same office for “graft.”
What? Yes “graft” because the complaint, a product of half hazard probe, charged Esmeralda for malversation of public funds, for diverting the budget from “livelihood” to compensate a victim that was hit by a municipal van from Iloilo City going back to Igbaras. The driver was also charged for “perjury” because the trip ticket did not match the actual time of arrival.
Esmeralda, mayor from 2001 to 2010, it turned out, actually, charged the financial assistance from his discretionary fund, not from the livelihood budget of the town. In short, it was regular not anomalous. The quack investigator from Ombudsman – RO6 did not even bother to check his/her facts but from mere text messaging from a tipster.
The quack investigator writes that he/she consulted the COA which considers the disbursement by Esmeralda “irregular”. This exposes this quack investigator again as nothing more but a quack investigator. More than six years have passed and no such written finding or observation was issued by the COA but this quack investigator still insists on his//her defective conclusion sans material basis.
About the driver who was charged for forgery?
There is no basis to charge him so. He was correct in the trip ticket that he traveled Igbaras – Iloilo and vice versa. His error, if error it may be, is that their actual time of arrival is later than that in the estimated trip ticket. Had this quack investigator been worth his/her salt, he/she would have found the discrepancy understandable and unjustifiable due to the unforeseen incident.
Now that his innocence is emerging, Esmeralda wishes to counter and slap his accuser/s back for malicious persecution and damages.
The quack investigator at Ombudsman – RO6 refuses to give him the identity of his accuser. Confidential daw.
Somehow, I can smell the identity of this scoundrel. Years back, the regional director of DSWD terminated his contract of employment, de facto firing him, because the former was dissatisfied with his performance. He got even by spiriting away the laptop of the agency. Now, the DSWD is looking for him to get back the lost IT gadget. That is qualified theft, a worse form of graft and corruption case. Paging the quack investigator at Ombudsman – RO6!
Why do quack investigators of Ombudsman – RO6 give due course even to mere text messaging from this scumbag unmindful of the inconvenience and frayed nerves of his victims?
This scumbag, protégé of a cleric whose looks reminds us of our affinity with primates, is a member of the animal called Pipol’s Grapwats, Inc., in turn, a creature of Virginia Palanca Santiago, a retired Director IV of the Office of the Ombudsman, but still had the gall to sport the fictitious title “Assistant Ombudsman” prior to her retirement.
She used to strut around at the Omvbudsaman-RO6 like a peacock but left prematurely and holed herself up at her office in Cebu permanently when my columns rained on her (my pieces are cc’ed to the Ombudsman – RO6) calling her, among others, “a moral pygmy whose sense of right and wrong is as revolting as her looks.”
Pelagio Apostol, Jr., Deputy Ombudsman (Visayas) indeed, has a lot of clean-up job awaiting him at the Ombudsman – RO6 which reeks of scumbags like this quack investigator.
May the Good Lord blessed the texter with a passing grade this next bar-exam, kahit 75 lang. In that case, he will be among the most brilliant lawyers in town, having reviewed for the bar six times.
Iloilo City Kgd. Joshua Alim said he once wrote in behalf of his client asking for investigation against a public official. The Ombdusman Region 6 Office (then headed by Virginia Palanca-Santiago) dismissed his complaint because it was not verified or notarized.
He refiled it this time with a formal, verified complaint. “I thought, even unsigned tips are considered material hence must be given due course by the Ombudsman,” heaves Alim.
Lately, Dr. Jaime Esmeralda, MD, former vice-mayor and former mayor of Igbaras, Iloilo, received a notice from Ombudsman –RO6 ordering him to answer in 15 days a criminal complaint filed by the same office for “graft.”
What? Yes “graft” because the complaint, a product of half hazard probe, charged Esmeralda for malversation of public funds, for diverting the budget from “livelihood” to compensate a victim that was hit by a municipal van from Iloilo City going back to Igbaras. The driver was also charged for “perjury” because the trip ticket did not match the actual time of arrival.Esmeralda, mayor from 2001 to 2010, it turned out, actually, charged the financial assistance from his discretionary fund, not from the livelihood budget of the town. In short, it was regular not anomalous. The quack investigator from Ombudsman – RO6 did not even bother to check his/her facts but from mere text messaging from a tipster.
The quack investigator writes that he/she consulted the COA which considers the disbursement by Esmeralda “irregular”. This exposes this quack investigator again as nothing more but a quack investigator. More than six years have passed and no such written finding or observation was issued by the COA but this quack investigator still insists on his//her defective conclusion sans material basis.
About the driver who was charged for forgery?
There is no basis to charge him so. He was correct in the trip ticket that he traveled Igbaras – Iloilo and vice versa. His error, if error it may be, is that their actual time of arrival is later than that in the estimated trip ticket. Had this quack investigator been worth his/her salt, he/she would have found the discrepancy understandable and unjustifiable due to the unforeseen incident.
Now that his innocence is emerging, Esmeralda wishes to counter and slap his accuser/s back for malicious persecution and damages.
The quack investigator at Ombudsman – RO6 refuses to give him the identity of his accuser. Confidential daw.
Somehow, I can smell the identity of this scoundrel. Years back, the regional director of DSWD terminated his contract of employment, de facto firing him, because the former was dissatisfied with his performance. He got even by spiriting away the laptop of the agency. Now, the DSWD is looking for him to get back the lost IT gadget. That is qualified theft, a worse form of graft and corruption case. Paging the quack investigator at Ombudsman – RO6!Why do quack investigators of Ombudsman – RO6 give due course even to mere text messaging from this scumbag unmindful of the inconvenience and frayed nerves of his victims?
This scumbag, protégé of a cleric whose looks reminds us of our affinity with primates, is a member of the animal called Pipol’s Grapwats, Inc., in turn, a creature of Virginia Palanca Santiago, a retired Director IV of the Office of the Ombudsman, but still had the gall to sport the fictitious title “Assistant Ombudsman” prior to her retirement.
She used to strut around at the Omvbudsaman-RO6 like a peacock but left prematurely and holed herself up at her office in Cebu permanently when my columns rained on her (my pieces are cc’ed to the Ombudsman – RO6) calling her, among others, “a moral pygmy whose sense of right and wrong is as revolting as her looks.”
Pelagio Apostol, Jr., Deputy Ombudsman (Visayas) indeed, has a lot of clean-up job awaiting him at the Ombudsman – RO6 which reeks of scumbags like this quack investigator.
May the Good Lord blessed the texter with a passing grade this next bar-exam, kahit 75 lang. In that case, he will be among the most brilliant lawyers in town, having reviewed for the bar six times.
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