EDITORIAL - An unresolved case

Amid the impeachment trial of Vice President Sara Duterte, an old issue has been dredged up.

Yesterday’s trial opened with siblings Alan Peter and Pia Cayetano, backed by Robinhood Padilla, lamenting what they perceived as an attempt to intimidate the minority bloc in the impeachment proceedings.

They pointed to Director Melvin Matibag of the National Bureau of Investigation as the source of the intimidation.

Alan Peter Cayetano had questioned Matibag’s request to reset his scheduled testimony on the grave threats case against Duterte.

Matibag had sought the resetting so he could attend a symposium on transnational crime in Bangkok, Thailand. Cayetano expressed concern that such an excuse could set a precedent for other witnesses in the impeachment trial.

As the Senate voted to approve Matibag’s request, he said the NBI would be investigating suspected anomalies in the P9.5-billion New Clark City sports complex built in Capas, Tarlac for the 2019 Southeast Asian Games, particularly the P50-million cost of the 50-meter-high sports cauldron outside the athletics stadium.

Cayetano, who was then the House speaker, chaired the Philippine SEA Games organizing committee, while the construction of the sports complex and funding were handled by the Bases Conversion and Development Authority, at the time headed by Vince Dizon, now the secretary of public works and highways. The BCDA had awarded the contract to Malaysian firm MTD Capital Berhad.

Then president Rodrigo Duterte cleared Cayetano of involvement in anomalies.

No probe was conducted on Cayetano. But in 2020, a private citizen filed a complaint with the Office of the Ombudsman for malversation of public funds and graft against Dizon and several others, citing the lack of public bidding for the contract. The case is unresolved.

Matibag said the NBI would probe the lack of public bidding, failure to liquidate the billions for the project and allegations that funding was expedited through a congressional insertion in the annual national budget.

While Matibag mentioned no name, the Cayetano siblings felt the announcement was meant to provide a chilling effect on the Senate minority amid the ongoing impeachment trial. This was particularly in light of the recent arrest and detention without bail of two minority senators, Jinggoy Estrada and Rodante Marcoleta.

While the timing of Matibag’s announcement does encourage such speculation, and the concern over witnesses skipping the trial to go overseas is valid, the controversy should remind the Office of the Ombudsman about the unresolved case against Dizon and the possible involvement of Cayetano.

Ombudsman Jesus Crispin Remulla has vowed that there will be no sacred cows in the pursuit of accountability. This will be tested as he reviews the case against Dizon, alongside a possible probe of Cayetano.