THE Office of the Ombudsman on Thursday denied Kabayan Rep. Harry Roque’s accusations that government prosecutors received bribe money for the dismissal of high-profile cases at the Sandiganbayan. The Ombudsman’s Office of the Special Prosecutor reacted to the
allegations of Roque that “nagkakalagayan sa OSP” or prosecutors were being paid off.
Special Prosecutor Wendell Barreras-Sulit denied Roque’s statement.
“We register our vehement objection to this unfounded and libelous statement as if [Roque] has personal knowledge of the bribery. We challenge him to come out with the names of prosecutors
tainted with this despicable reputation,” she said.
She urged Roque to identify prosecutors whom he knew had accepted bribe money to lose the case at the Sandiganbayan.
The Sandiganbayan has acquitted, for lack of evidence, Sen. Joseph Victor Ejercito over supposed misuse of San Juan City’s calamity fund to buy firearms when he was then the city mayor.
The anti-graft court’s Second Division also absolved former agriculture undersecretary Jocelyn “Joc-joc” Bolante over the P723-million fertilizer fund scam.
Ex-Makati City Mayor Elenita Binay was also cleared of graft over the alleged rigged bidding for the purchase of furniture and office partitions in 2000.
The Sandiganbayan also dropped the graft and malversation raps against then representative Sherwin Gatchalian and former Local Water Utilities Authority chief Prospero Pichay, graft and reckless imprudence resulting in multiple homicide and multiple physical injury cases against Valenzuela City Mayor Rex Gatchalian and plunder and graft raps against former president Gloria Aroryo in the NBN-ZTE broadband deal.
“As an office, we can be proud of our accomplishments and the records will show that in 2016, we have garnered a 70 percent conviction rate, as against the 30 percent which were unfortunately
dismissed,” Barreras-Sulit said.
The OSP is Ombudsman’s prosecutorial arm.
“Even if our cases ended up in acquittal or dismissal, no one can, and should claim that we were paid to drop our cases. We fought to the end, God is our witness. We gave our very best and sacrificed our time for our families to see to it that justice is served.”
In an interview over dzMM, Roque said the Office of the Special Prosecutor must be held liable for the consecutive losses of graft cases filed by the Ombudsman.
“I will be straightforward, I think that there is pay-off with the prosecution so that no one gets convicted,” he said.
