Saavedra files case vs Osmeña and ABC bet

Saavedra

Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña, Kasambagan Barangay Captain Franklyn Ong, and members of the city hall’s bids and awards committee (BAC) are now facing a complaint before the Office of the Ombudsman.

The complainant, whistleblower Crisologo Saavedra, accused the public officials of committing conflict of interest for awarding the city’s garbage hauling services to Pasajero Motors Corp. (Pamocor).

Pamocor is owned and operated by Ong.

“Osmeña and the BAC in connivance with each other, awarded contracts for supply of equipment and hauling of garbage knowing that the transaction was in violation of the law because Ong, the owner of Pamocor, is a public official of Cebu City,” reads a part of Saavedra’s complaint.

In a follow-up interview, Saavedra said he filed his complaint yesterday morning.

He also said that no one influenced him on filing the case against Osmeña and Ong.

Ong is the bet of the Bando Osmeña Pundok Kauswagan (BOPK) – the party headed by Osmeña – as the next president of the Assocation of Barangay Councils in Cebu City (ABC–Cebu City).

Saavedra added that he decided not to name the members of the city council who approved Osmeña to enter into a contract with Pamocor, as respondents.

“But the actual transaction was signed by Tomas. The person who signed the award is the person responsible. What the council did was just ministerial,” he claimed.

No violation

Sought for their comments, both Osmeña and Ong assured that the transaction has not violated any law.

Osmeña said the bidding was conducted fairly as he questioned the timing of Saavedra’s complaint.

“I have not seen the case… He (Ong) is not part of the city government, and just because I know him does that make it a crime? Just because you voted for me, that’s a conflict of interest because I know you? That’s stressing it too far. The important thing here is there’s competition,” Osmeña explained.

Ong for his part said he is ready to face and answer the accusations hurled against him.

“Nobody can stop him from doing that. Maayo nang (It’s good that) he filed it in the proper venue so we can answer them in court,” Ong explained.

The village chief, however, refused to comment when asked whether he thinks the filing of the case against him was intended to smear his name now that the ABC elections, to be held this July 30, is drawing near.

In 2017, the city council authorized Osmeña to enter into a contract with Pamocor, paying the latter around P300 million not only for hauling the city’s garbage but also for the rental of 21 garbage dump trucks needed for collection.

But last October, members of the opposition party Barug Team Rama–PDP Laban suspected that there was “favoritism” in the awarding of the city’s garbage hauling services.

Graft buster

Saavedra is a “self-proclaimed anti-graft crusader” who filed several high-profile cases against some key officials in Cebu.

His popularity rose when he sued former Mayors Thadeo Ouano of Mandaue City and Arturo Radaza of Lapu-Lapu City in 2007 for the overpriced lampposts used during the 2005 ASEAN Summit here.

In 2013 the Sandiganbayan dropped the lone case against Radaza.

Ouano was named in two cases one of which was dismissed in 2011, while the remaining case was junked when he died in February 2016.

All respondents in the lamppost cases were earlier found guilty of grave misconduct by the Ombudsman-Visayas and were ordered dismissed from public service.

Ouano and Radaza, however, escaped the penalty because they were reelected.

It was also Saavedra who filed a grave misconduct case against Cebu 3rd District Representative Gwendolyn Garcia, who in her capacity as governor of Cebu in 2013, purchased the controversial Balili property in Naga City.

Saavedra likewise hailed Garcia to court in 2012, accusing her and several former Capitol officials of overpricing the Cebu International Convention Center (CICC) in Mandaue City.