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[av_heading heading=’MABILOG FOREVER DISQUALIFIED Another dismissal order vs Jed for towing deal ‘ tag=’h3′ style=’blockquote modern-quote’ size=” subheading_active=’subheading_below’ subheading_size=’15’ padding=’10’ color=” custom_font=” av-medium-font-size-title=” av-small-font-size-title=” av-mini-font-size-title=” av-medium-font-size=” av-small-font-size=” av-mini-font-size=” admin_preview_bg=”]
BY PRINCE GOLEZ and ADRIAN STEWART CO
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MANILA – The Office of the Ombudsman has again perpetually disqualified former mayor Jed Patrick Mabilog from holding public office.
It found Mabilog guilty of grave misconduct, serious dishonesty and conduct prejudicial to the best interest of the service for entering into a deal with 3L Towing Services in 2015.
In a decision issued in December just before 2017 ended, Ombudsman Conchita Carpio-Morales ordered Mabilog dismissed from service.
It was only in October last year when the Ombudsman ordered Mabilog’s removal from government service for unexplained wealth.
A month before that, the Ombudsman ordered the filing of a graft charge against Mabilog for violation of Section 3(h) of Republic Act (RA) 3019 for the towing deal with 3L Towing Services which it found anomalous.
RA 3019 (Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act) prohibits public officials from directly or indirectly having financing or pecuniary interest in any business, contract or transaction in connection with which he intervenes or takes part in his official capacity, or in which he is prohibited by the constitution or by any law from having any interest.
Aside from perpetual disqualification, other accessory penalties meted on Mabilog for the towing deal were the cancellation of his civil service eligibility and forfeiture of his retirement benefits. He was also barred from taking civil service examinations.
The complainant in this graft case was journalist and former Iloilo provincial administrator Manuel Mejorada.
GENESIS OF THE CASE: TIMELINE
* April 8, 2014 – The Sangguniang Panlungsod (SP) of Iloilo City incorporated the use of wheel towing clamps in a towing ordinance penalizing the illegal parking of vehicles.
* Feb. 17, 2015 – The SP authorized Mabilog to enter into a memorandum of agreement (MOA) with 3L Towing Services for the implementation of the ordinance.
Under the MOA, 70 percent of the fines collected would be given to 3L while the remaining 30 percent would be the (local government unit’s) share. The 70-30 sharing scheme for the first five years will be followed by a 65-35 sharing scheme for the next five years.
* Feb. 24, 2015 – The city council confirmed the MOA.
* Feb. 27, 2015 – Mabilog suspended the agreement citing “some technical issues.”
* May 19, 2015 – 3L proprietor Leny Garcia wrote Mabilog offering to withdraw from the MOA “amidst the legal issues confronting it and submit to legal processes prescribed by laws on government bidding and procurement.”
In a supplemental statement to Mejorda’s complaint, Mabilog’s estranged political ally Councilor Plaridel Nava accused the mayor of having a direct financial interest in 3L.
According to Nava, as stated in the Ombudsman decision, Mabilog employed his services “to perpetuate and consummate his [Mabilog’s] illegitimate, immoral, dishonest and underground acts and transactions with private groups and corporate personalities doing or intending to do business in the city of Iloilo by using his power and influence as the chief executive of the city government.”
Nava, formerly the chairman of the SP committee on transportation, narrated that Mabilog instructed him to look for someone they could trust to stand as dummy owner and to estimate the cost and expenditures for the proposed business venture on clamping services.
According to Nava, he regularly reported to Mabilog about the status of the business venture and that on June 16, 2014 the mayor handed him P500,000 in cash as capital contribution to the business.
The mayor also reportedly expedited the release of the business and mayor’s permits of the towing company.
OMBUDSMAN’S FINDINGS
According to Carpio-Morales, “It is undisputed that respondent entered into a MOA, on behalf of the city government, with 3L for the implementation of the city’s clamping ordinance without compliance with any procurement process required under the relevant law for the selection of 3L.”
The Ombudsman also believed that Garcia’s withdrawal from the MOA was an attempt “to avoid further scrutiny considering that complainant Manuel Mejorada had already filed the complaint-affidavit almost a month prior to Garcia’s letter of withdrawal.”
Meanwhile, Carpio-Morales asked the Field Investigation Office of the Ombudsman-Visayas to undertake fact-finding investigation against Nava for a possible administrative case.
“[H]e openly admitted against his own interest, that he was the one who approached Garcia to serve as respondent’s dummy, upon the latter’s earlier instruction, to look for someone they could trust,” Carpio-Morales said.
Sought for his reaction yesterday, Nava said he has yet to read the Ombudsman decision.
“I am still out of the country and I have yet to read the decision. At any rate, everyone should respect the decision and I also welcome any investigation to prove that I am not equally guilty with the ex-mayor,” he told Panay News.
According to Nava, he “merely accommodated his (Mabilog’s) personal request which I could not refuse at that time.”
Nava said the Ombudsman should have treated him “as a witness and not as a co-accused or co-respondent.”
‘DISCOURAGING’
September last year right after the Ombudsman ordered the filing of a graft charge against Mabilog and Nava for violation of Section 3(h) of RA 3019 for the towing deal with 3L, the councilor said such action of the anti-graft watchdog discouraged him from further exposing corruption at city hall.
That month, Nava was supposed to bare that the chickens the City Agriculture Office were distributing to Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program beneficiaries were underweight.
The chicken distribution had a project cost of P10 million, said Nava, and the supplier was supposed to deliver chickens weighing 300 grams each.
“Ugaling nadulaan ako sang gana. Basi hambalon naman nga ako ang supplier (of the chickens). Para wala na lang, let us leave it that way,” said Nava.
With the adverse Ombudsman ruling against him, said Nava, corruption would continue at city hall.
“From now on, nobody will dare expose irregularities in the city government. Tan-awon ta ang Ombudsman kon makaya nila ang trabaho nila,” said Nava.
According to the Ombudsman, what was clear from the accusations and counter-accusations between Mabilog and Nava was that “both colluded to create 3L, to get (Leny) Garcia to act as its dummy owner, to have the business registered with the Department of Trade and Industry and Bureau of Internal Revenue, to secure its business and mayor’s permits, and to have it awarded the memorandum of agreement with the city government without going through a competitive process.”
Nava countered, “In the first place, paano mo ma-prove ang conspiracy kon ang duha ka-conspirators waay man nag-ako kag nagtinudluanay? Paano ka ka-prove conspiracy when in the first place waay man to matigayon ang kontrata, waay man na-pursue. Waay gani damage sa city government.”
From now on, said Nava, he won’t say anything about corruption at city hall.
“Basi bala kon i-expose ko kag hambalon naman sang natungdan nga akon ina, mapati naman ang Ombudsman nga parti ako dira, ti kundi marimalaso pa ‘ko. Bay-an ta na lang na ang tanan nga korapsyon,” said Nava./PN
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