Graft raps filed vs. Optical Media Board chair Ronnie Ricketts, 4 others

The Office of the Ombudsman has filed graft charges against Optical Media Board (OMB) chairman Ronnie Ricketts and four others for allegedly allowing the return of confiscated pirated DVDs and VCDs to its owner company in 2010.

 

In a complaint filed with the Sandiganbayan Wednesday afternoon but only made available to the media on Thursday, government prosecutors said Ricketts, as OMB chairman and chief executive officer, "conspired" with four other officials from the OMB Enforcement and Inspection Division (EID) in "giving unwarranted benefit, advantage or preference" to private company Sky High Marketing Corporation by allowing the return of confiscated Digital Video Discs (DVDs) and Video Compact Discs (VCDs) confiscated from the company.

 

The Ombudsman said that upon investigation by its field officers, it was found out that on the morning of May 27, 2010, personnel from the OMB confiscated from the Sky High Marketing building in Quezon City tons of pirated DVDs and VCDs.

Later that day, however, the confiscated items were "released and reloaded into the corporation's vehicle," the Ombudsman said.

 

Aside from Ricketts, named as respondents were OMB executive director Cyrus Paul Valenzuela, EID head Manuel Mangubat, EID investigation agent Joseph Arnaldo and EID computer operator Glenn Perez.

 

The Ombudsman said that due to the respondents' "manifest partiality, evident bad faith and gross inexcusable negligence," the confiscated items which could have been used as evidence in the cases that should have been filed against Sky High has been "compromised."

 

The Ombudsman also said that the respondents also "unlawfully and criminally gave unwarranted benefit, advantage and preference" to Sky High by not filing against the said company the appropriate charges under Republic Act 9239 or the Optical Media Board Act of 2003 causing "damage and prejudice to the government and to the detriment of public interest."

 

"This is to certify that a preliminary investigation has been conducted in this case; that there is sufficient ground to engender a well-founded belief that the crime charged has been committed and that the accused are probably guilty thereof," the Ombudsman said in a certification attached to the complaint.

In September last year, the Ombudsman placed Ricketts and the four other respondents in a six-month preventive suspension while the panel of investigators was probing the complaint. They resumed their respective posts in March of this year. — RSJ, GMA News