By Junex Doronio

MANILA — Short of daring Commission on Elections (Comelec) chairman George Erwin M. Garcia to resign to ensure a credible and clean elections in 2025, SAGIP party-list Rep. Rodante Marcoleta called on his colleagues in the House of Representatives to conduct an investigation, in aid of legislation, on the alleged deposits made to several offshore accounts of the poll body chief by persons connected to the controversial South Korean firm Miru to collect and count votes in next year’s national and local polls.

“After Chairman Garcia challenged me to show proof, my team and I spent resources and time to track his offshore bank accounts. We then found 49 accounts opened only in 2022 and last year, registered in the Cayman Islands, China, Hong Kong, North America and Singapore — all traceable to him,” Marcoleta disclosed in a press conference on Thursday (01 August 2024).

Marcoleta said the burden has now shifted to Garcia, for the Comelec Chairman to prove these solid pieces of evidence wrong, if he can.

“This is very conclusive,” Marcoleta said of the pieces of evidence he presented against Garcia.

“No one can say this is merely an allegation because we have already verified his offshore bank accounts,” he added.

To recall, Marcoleta did not name the ranking Comelec official when he first made his explosive exposé on the Miru bribery scandal on July 9, but Garcia had quickly come out in the open to deny the allegations.

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SAGIP Party-list Rep. Rodante Marcoleta can’t help but think that there is preferential treatment on the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) given their seemingly nonchalant action against the erring local officials of San Simon, Pampanga.

During the House Committee on Public Accounts hearing on Tuesday, June 25, Marcoleta questioned this slow action even as he noted that the agency was quick to file a criminal complaint against Bamban, Tarlac Mayor Alice Guo over her alleged involvement with a Philippine Offshore and Gaming Operator (POGO) in her town.

“I remember in the Senate hearing, with respect to that Senate Resolution involving the mayor of Bamban, hindi ko po alam anong dokumento ang nakuha nila doon pero ‘yung DILG…napakabilis po ninyong umaksyon pagdating sa mayor ng Bamban,” Marcoleta said.

“Ano po ba ang threshold na hinahanap natin?” he asked.

Marcoleta said the committee has revealed “truckloads” of information against the local government officials of San Simon, yet there is still no action from the DILG.

The public accounts panel, chaired by Abang Lingkod Party-list Rep. Joseph Stephen “Caraps” Paduano, has been investigating the town’s Mayor Abundio Punsalan over his alleged illegal use and misuse of public funds, unauthorized land conversion, and procurement irregularities.

“The committee meetings speak volumes of documents proving the massive irregularity,” Marcoleta said, noting that there have been six hearings over this matter.

Lawyer Leo Menguito, a member of the DILG’s legal services, clarified that the agency was only quick to file a criminal complaint against Guo in the Office of the Ombudsman because a task force was created to oversee the case.

Menguito also cited Administrative Order (AO) No. 23, signed in 1992, which he said bars the agency from initiating a complaint in the Ombudsman. This is supposedly why the department is slow to act against the San Simon mayor and other officials.

For his part, Marcoleta cited Section 60 of the Local Government Code which features the grounds for disciplinary actions against elective local officials.

The veteran lawmaker particularly took note of paragraph 8 of this section, which states: “An elective local official may be removed from office on the grounds enumerated above by order of the proper court”.

“So papaano tayo magkakaroon ng order of the proper court kung hindi naman kayo magi-initiate ng case para po sa gano’n magkaroon ng bisa yung section 60,” he said.

Marcoleta stressed that Section 60 doesn’t have any violation for the DILG if it chooses to file a complaint

“I am hoping that the officer of the DILG will be serious enough to file the appropriate complaints based on the evidence we have gathered so far, after six hearings of this committee,” he added.

In response, DILG’s Menguito said he would relay to the appropriate officials to initiate the proper complaint against erring officials of San Simon, Pampanga.

MANILA — SAGIP Party-list Representative Rodante Marcoleta urged the Office of the Ombudsman on Tuesday (25 June 2024) to take action against the alleged anomalous activities of San Simon Mayor Abundio Punsalan Jr., who is currently under his fourth preventive suspension.

“Gusto ko nandun ang Ombudsman para sa ganoon…makikita nila ilang track ng ebidensiya ang gusto nila, ipinakikita namin. Mabuti naman sinabi niya kanina [na] ‘we will reconsider’,” Marcoleta said in an interview, referring to the resolution issued by the Ombudsman that acquitted Punsalan.

“Nakiusap ako na pumunta kayo doon para makita ninyo at gusto ko ngayong malaman pagkatapos nito na nag-hearing kami, nangako sila, nag-commit sila, eh malaman natin kung gagalaw sila o hindi… Tanong ko anong threshold mo ba? Ilang talangkas pa ng dokumento ang gusto mo para ikaw na mismo ang pumunta sa korte,” the lawmaker added.

During the hearing of the Committee on Public Accounts, Antipolo Second District Representative Romeo Acop cited Punsalan and Loreto Santos in contempt for “continuously not answering or lying to this committee.”

Acop requested to detain Punsalan and Santos in Bicutan Jail for 30 days. San Simon’s Mayor appealed the motion due to his medical condition, but it was denied.

Santos has been attending official meetings on behalf of the San Simon Mayor despite not being a government employee.

Furthermore, Marcoleta assured that they will “get to the bottom of this,” emphasizing that they believe Punsalan should be held accountable for his actions, particularly given his multiple suspensions.

“Pinipilit ko doon sa charter ng Ombudsman — nandun naman nakalagay na ‘yung removal depending on the appreciation of the mitigating or aggravating circumstances. Ano pa bang hinihintay ninyo? Ilang beses nang nasuspinde ‘yan,” he said.

On June 18, the Office of the Governor of Pampanga issued a preventive suspension for Punsalan lasting 60 days, about the issuance of a Mayor’s permit to One Sky Aluminum Extrusion Corporation for violations of environmental, air, and water laws.

Punsalan was previously found guilty of dishonesty, grave misconduct in office, gross negligence in the performance of official duties, gross dereliction of duty, and grave abuse of authority in an administrative case filed with the Sangguniang Panlalawigan.