Cebu City mayor eyes graft raps vs. Aguirre

Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II may soon face a graft complaint after being accused by Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña of  “interfering” in cases against officers of two commercial giants.

Osmeña said he would sue Aguirre before the Office of the Ombudsman for allegedly ordering a prosecutor from the Department of Justice (DOJ) in Manila to handle cases against BDO.

“That’s graft, because the moment you interfere with due process, that’s graft. We were not even made to answer the comments of BDO,” Osmena said in a phone interview.

Aguirre’s order is also said to cover cases filed by Osmeña in behalf of the city government against SM Prime Holdings, and all subsequent cases that may be filed by the same party against the Sy Group of Companies.

“In simple terms, Sec. Aguirre acted as the lawyer of SM and BDO in all criminal cases the City of Cebu filed before his very Office or Department,” Osmeña said in a text message.

In January last year, Osmeñas sued BDO’s officers over one branch’s alleged under-declaration of gross annual revenue and falsification of gross sales in its business permit application for 2016. He sued them separately over a similar allegation against another branch.

He had filed a separate complaint against four SM officials in November 2016 over the alleged understatement of the size of one mall branch in Cebu City to cut tax obligations.

“Am I accusing Aguirre of taking money? Yes. I can see no other explanation. And I’m going to file a case against him,” said Osmeña, who has also faced graft complaints.

Aguirre has not responded to requests for comment.

He is facing criticism for state prosecutors' recommendation of the dismissal of charges against alleged drug lords, and for the department's extension of "provisional" state protection to Janet Lim Napoles, the alleged mastermind of the pork barrel scam.

Faced with quit calls, he has said he will not resign.

'Letter request' from BDO

A copy of a department order made available by Osmeña's office shows Aguirre directed the Office of the Prosecutor of Cebu City to recuse from the case against the BDO Osmeña branch on April 6, 2017.

Then-Prosecutor General Victor Sepulveda was designated to assign a prosecutor to resolve the BDO case “in the interest of public service, pursuant to the provisions of existing laws and acting on the March 24, 2017 letter request of Atty. Alvin C. Go, SVP and Chief Legal Counsel, Banco de Oro,” Aguirre’s order said.

The contents of the “letter request” and the motivation for sending it are currently unclear. BDO has yet to respond to GMA News Online's request for comment.

The April 6 order would be revoked by a June 15 order, which designated Assistant State Prosecutor Rassendell Rex Gingoyon as Acting Cebu City Prosecutor in all pending and subsequent cases the city government may file against the Sy Group of Companies, which includes both BDO and SM.

The June 15 order would also direct the Office of the City Prosecutor of Cebu City and Assistant State Prosecutor Zenamar Machacon-Caparros "to inhibit and cease from conducting and resolving the preliminary investigation" of the cases.

Under Gingoyon’s prosecution, the complaints against BDO were dismissed for lack of probable cause and insufficiency of evidence.

According to a November 29, 2017 resolution on the Magallanes branch case, Osmeña’s “belief or opinion that it is unbelievable and alarming for a big commercial bank like BDO to declare such gross sales receipts is purely speculative.”

Osmeña appealed, but his motion for reconsideration was denied on February 8 this year.

Probable cause

Meanwhile, the complaint against SM Prime Holdings, where four officers were charged with deceit for alleged misrepresentation of the SM Seaside City building size, was initially recommended dismissed by the assigned Cebu prosecutor, a document shows.

But the same March 15, 2017 resolution saw City Prosecutor Liceria Lofranco Rabillas disapproving the recommendation, instead indicting Imelda Lim, said to be a senior tax manager, for other deceits. Her appeal seeking to reverse the City Prosecutor's resolution was denied.

Lim took her case to the DOJ in Manila, again seeking a review. Her petition was dismissed by Justice undersecretary Raymund Mecate by authority of Aguirre on June 13, 2017. Lim then filed a motion for reconsideration assailing the dismissal.

Two days later, on June 15, 2017, Aguirre assigned Gingoyon to handle the BDO and SM cases filed by Osmena in behalf of the Cebu City government.

On January 10 this year, Justice Undersecretary Deo Marco, signing for Aguirre, granted Lim’s latest motion for reconsideration, reversed the DOJ’s dismissal of her petition for review, and similarly set aside the resolution that found probable cause against her for other deceits.

The resolution said “no evidence was adduced to show that Lim made the alleged misrepresentations,” among other findings contrary to the initial resolution by the Cebu City Prosecutor.

Osmeña filed a motion for reconsideration, arguing the case is already in court, meaning jurisdiction rests with the municipal trial courts. The DOJ has yet to rule on this appeal.

Copies of documents cited in the story were made available by  Osmeña's office. —JST, GMA News