Justify charges vs PEA execs, solons urge Palace

There must be some justification for this.

Opposition Sen. Aquilino Pimentel Jr. asked Malacañang yesterday to justify its order to punish seven Public Estates Authority (PEA) board members with perpetual disqualification from public office after they were found "administratively guilty" for the overpricing of the President Diosdado Macapagal Boulevard (PDMB) in Pasay City.

Pimentel, who chairs the Senate committee on civil service and reorganization, said the disqualification order against the PEA board members was premature, since the charges against them are still subject to investigation by the Ombudsman and possible prosecution before the Sandiganbayan.

"I doubt whether the Palace can validly impose that harsh punishment of depriving them of a means of employment," Pimentel said. "I think only the courts can do that."

Senators Edgardo Angara and Tessie Aquino-Oreta accused President Arroyo Wednesday of resorting to "legal shortcuts" when she ordered the perpetual disqualification from public office of the PEA officials.

"That is not proper and (is) legally wrong," Angara said. Technically, he said, a person cannot be perpetually disqualified from public office by a mere "administrative order."

Oreta said the President’s order perpetually barring the PEA officials from holding public office violates the constitutional right of these PEA board members to be presumed innocent until proven guilty.

That PEA board member Sulficio Tagud, the whistle blower in the P600 million PDMB scam, was among those sanctioned "could only have a chilling effect on civil servants who are either critical of the Arroyo administration or are planning to expose government anomalies," Oreta said.

Malacañang, through Executive Secretary Alberto Romulo, ordered the perpetual disqualification from re-employment in the government service PEA board chairman and executive officer Ernest Villareal, general manager and ex-officio board member Benjamin Cariño and PEA board members Martin Sancinego Jr., Rodolfo Tuazon, Joemari Gerochi, Angelito Villanueva and Tagud.

Meanwhile, a group of lawyers supporting Tagud expressed "serious reservations" regarding the inclusion of Chief Presidential Legal Counsel Avelino Cruz in the supplemental complaint for plunder filed recently before the Office of the Ombudsman by other groups supporting Tagud.

In a letter written to Pastor "Boy" Saycon of the Council on Philippine Affairs (COPA), Teddy Casiño of Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan), Carolina Araullo of Plunderwatch and Fr. Joe Dizon of Kairos and the other complainants in the case, Concerned Lawyers for Moral and Effective Leadership (Clamor) convenor Dennis Funa said the Clamor legal committee led by lawyer Melanio Balayan "carefully studied the record and found that there is no factual or legal basis (upon which) to charge (Cruz)." Funa said, "Clamor cannot, in conscience, implead individuals on insufficient legal grounds."

In its legal opinion submitted to the case complainants, Clamor said the evidence shows that Cruz, as acting executive secretary, performed a "purely ministerial act" when he informed the Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) and PEA of the approval by the President of their P1 billion loan agreement. "It is clear that it was not (Cruz) who approved the loan agreement... there is even no indication that (Cruz) had the authority to approve the loan agreement."