The zeal with which the Ombudsman is pursuing its campaign to prevent misuse of government vehicles is rather misplaced and only demonstrates the wrong priorities adopted by the anti-graft body under Tanod Bayan Merceditas Gutierrez.
For about two months now, the Ombudsman has been conducting surprise checkpoint inspections to make sure that government vehicles are only used for official purposes, and the regulations are adhered to, particularly on the matter of issuance of trip tickets to authorize the use of red-plate vehicles.
It has reached the point of overzealousness when the Ombudsman’s “Oplan Red Plate” team accosted Governor Niel Tupas, Sr. and City Mayor Jerry Trenas last Friday, July 3, at the Benigno Aquino Avenue (commonly known to Ilonggos as “Diversion Road”).
Both officials had just come from the wake of the late Nene Consing at the Molo Church when they were stopped at the Ombudsman checkpoint.
I don’t know about Mayor Trenas, but Governor Tupas narrated the disrespectful conduct of the team leader when he approached the governor’s vehicle.
“The first thing he said was that I shouldn’t be using the official vehicle as it was already past 5 p.m.,” Gov. Tupas said.
This guy apparently didn’t know what he was talking about. Perhaps he thought that the job of governor is an 8 to 5 affair, Mondays to Fridays, and that any other activity of the governor shouldn’t involve the use of government vehicles.
That was plain stupid.
He started telling the governor about how the markings should be made on the vehicle. He behaved like a drill sergeant dressing down a buck private. He thought that because he represented the Ombudsman, he wielded great power to make governors and mayors kneel before him.
Gov. Tupas is a patient man, and simply let the Ombudsman official finish his discourse for the benefit of the media. When the fellow was done, the governor asked if he could now go. The Ombudsman official said, “yes”.
The governor did not allow the incident to just pass, however. He complained directly to Deputy Ombudsman Pelagio Apostol, head of the Ombudsman-Visayas. Apostol was aghast at the narration made by the governor. This is not what is supposed to be done. In the first place, he understood that governors and mayors work 24/7, and it wasn’t right for the officer to make those remarks. Also, Apostol said that the conduct of checkpoints didn’t mean that Ombudsman officials can just swagger around and flaunt their authority. He overstepped the bounds of decorum and conduct.
This incident isn’t just an unpleasant episode involving the Ombudsman. That part is an internal matter for the Ombudsman to resolve. What this incident shows is the seemingly misplaced priorities of the Ombudsman. Its main mission is to stop graft and corruption, and judging from the scandals erupting all over the place, it is doing a poor job in that department.
Instead of playing the role of traffic cop, the Ombudsman should regain focus and throw all its energy into the anti-corruption campaign. There are so many cases to pursue.
The Ombudsman can start with Augusto Boboy Syjuco and the anomalies he has been pulling off at the TESDA. There are already four pending cases I’ve filed against Syjuco: the P6.2 million ghost cell phone anomaly, the P7.5 million heavy equipment anomaly, the P3.25 million fertilizer fund scam and the P8 million Kabir program that evaporated into thin air.
These cases have been pending before the Ombudsman for years now, and I’d be happy to see even just one case resolved. The evidence in all these cases are super-strong, and I don’t see any reason for the Ombudsman not to indict Syjuco.