Probe sought on corruption allegations vs congressmen

MANILA, Philippines - Lawyer Oliver Lozano yesterday asked the Office of the Ombudsman to investigate corruption allegations against congressmen who impeached Chief Justice Renato Corona.

Lozano filed the one-page letter complaint addressed to Ombudsman Conchita Carpio-Morales yesterday morning.

Asked why the complaint did not have any attached evidence to support the allegations, Lozano told reporters that it would be up to the Ombudsman to gather evidence in the course of its investigation.

Lozano even reasoned that since the impeachment complaint was “based on just a suspicion” he was doing the same thing in his complaint before the Ombudsman.

“So it is also based on a suspicion that we are asking the Ombudsman to investigate the (allegation of) ill-gotten wealth against the (impeachment) prosecutors,” Lozano said.

“We are just using what they used...You were the ones who started this,” he said, referring to the prosecution.

He admitted that his move was also aimed at preventing the impeachment trial from proceeding.

Aside from this, he also wants to “create the other side to public opinion,” saying he was just riding on the tack of the prosecution to make the impeachment a “political exercise.”

In his letter to Morales, Lozano said: “Please investigate the suspected and reported ill-gotten wealth and non-disclosure of the statement of assets liabilities and net worth of all the complainants, prosecutors, their spokesmen and senators in the impeachment against the Chief Justice.”

Lozano particularly told reporters the Ombudsman should look into the assets of prosecution panel head Rep. Niel Tupas and spokesman Rep. Miro Quimbo.

In another interview, Lozano alleged that Tupas has acquired a P28-million mansion which is under construction inside the Xavierville Subdivision in Quezon City.

“I was told by a neighbor of Rep. Tupas that the mansion is nearing completion,” Lozano told The STAR.

Lozano said if the reports that Tupas owns the mansion are true, then he must publicly declare the said property so that the public may know if his salary as congressman is enough to acquire the mansion or if he has other means to do so.

Lozano, however, admitted that he has not yet seen the alleged property because he was only told about it yesterday, but he said he will try to verify the allegation.

Still in his letter to the Ombudsman, Lozano said: “Please investigate the falsification of the Complaint for Impeachment, its Verification and Jurat. It is stated that the Complaint is verified although there is no proper verification; hence, treated as unsigned.”

Lozano also asked the Ombudsman to look into the “reported bribery for the complainants (congressmen) in the amount of P1 million each plus pork barrel.”

He also asked the Ombudsman to probe the “reported bribery for the senators in the amount of P2 billion plus pork barrel.”

Lozano said he was acting as a private citizen who was seeing an attack on the Constitution.

According to Lozano, the congressmen who impeached Corona acted with “grave abuse of discretion amounting to lack or excess of jurisdiction.”

He cited that they had no right to indict a justice on decisions handed down by the Supreme Court as a collegial body. – With Perseus Echeminada