Jailed for libel courtesy of a case filed by a former congressman now municipal mayor, the accused turned the table on his accuser and haled him before the Office of the Ombudsman-Visayas for violation of the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act. In a virtual sample of “political discrimination”, one Florencio Flores Jr. of Purok 5, Tagum Norte, Trinidad town had to endure a weekend in jail as he could no longer arrange his bail – it being already past 5 p.m. of Friday, Feb. 13, 2009. What he decried was that he was singled out from his two other co-accused-- Well ljoy Lingeras og Barangay Guinobatan and Arnulfo Cajes of Barangay Kauswagan, both in Trinidad. They were facing libel charges filed by then Rep. Roberto Cajes of Bohol’s 2 nd District, now being tried by Judge Evelyn Corpus-Cabochan of Branch 98 of the Regional Trial Court of Quezon City.

While in jail, Flores tried to contact his co-accused to find out where they were being incarcerated. To his surprise, he learned that they were resting in their homes. In his complaint affidavit received by the Office of the Ombudsman-Visayas just last Tuesday, July 19,   Flores said it was then that he felt he was “singled out unjustly” since Judge Cabochan has issued three warrants but it was only he who was jailed that day and through the weekend. After posting bail, he sought his co-accused who said they were able to elude arrest by simply pledging to politically support the private complainant, the former solon, and his wife Judith del Rosario-Cajes. For these, Flores filed charges against the Cajes spouses for violation of Section 3(e) of Republic Act (RA) 3019 or the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act, and of Presidential Decree (PD) 1829 for obstruction of justice.Section 3 (e)  covers acts "Causing any undue injury to any party, including the Government, or giving any private party any unwarranted benefits, advantage or preference in the discharge of his official administrative or judicial functions through manifest partiality, evident bad faith or gross inexcusable negligence.

Flores, Lingeras and Arnulfo had supported former Trinidad Mayor Osias Flor Jr. who ran but lost to the former solon’s wife. Flores said Lingeras and Arnulfo were already located by the Trinidad police on the same day that he was arrested. When accosted, however, they managed to contact the Cajes spouses who instructed the policemen to release them. Flores lamented that while releasing his co-accused already constituted a crime of obstruction of justice committed by the Cajes spouses, police officers in Trinidad even had the gall to cover it up by deliberately misleading Judge Cabochan. He said the return endorsement of the warrants for     Lingeras and Arnulfo signed by P/Insp Adriano Bacus, chief of the Trinidad police, indicated that both were “nowhere to be found in the addresses mention[ed] above.” The same was received by Branch 98 on March 2, 2009. To Flores’ consternation, however, he said the Cajes spouses not only impeded the apprehension of his two co-accused; they even coddled and harboured them for a period of time by employing them in the local government unit. Lingeras as driver assigned to the Office of the Mayor from May 16, 2009 until Nov. 9, of the same year. On the other hand, Arnulfo was a casual employee from April 2009 to May 2010. When the former solon became mayor, the Flores affidavit said the former rehired Arnulfo as project monitoring officer frolm August 2010 until Oct. 13, 2010.

Lingeras and Arnulfo submitted separate affidavits corroborating Flores’ allegations. Lingeras supported his affidavit with a copy of his Sept. 16-30, 2009 payroll. Lingeras said he was still aboard the vessel from Manila to Bohol, he received a text from Flores informing him of the latter’s arrest, and that the police were also looking for him as he also had a warrant. Alarmed, he called Guinobatan Barangay Chair Miguelina Cajes-Lanugon who advised him to “remain calm and not worry because as long as he behaves properly and supports Congressman Ondoy Cajes, no one would dare arrest him” for which he pledged his political support. Shortly after reaching home, Lingeras said a police officer arrived and showed him the warrant. The officer agreed to go with him to Lanugon’s house where the village chief just instructed the former not to arrest him supposedly on the order of the former solon. He went scot free and was even employed as municipality-paid driver at the instance of the former solon, assigned to his wife who was mayor then. He was named a delegate to an educational tour to Metro Manila and Luzon on Sept. 25-27, 2009 for LGU-Trinidad employees. There, they spent the nights in the former solon’s residence in Quezon City. When they were about to go home, the former congressman requested him to help fix his car damaged by typhoon “Ondoy.” He extended his stay for three more days while the rest of the delegation went home.

Lingeras said he enjoyed the protection of the Cajes spouses. The warrant for him and Arnulfo were not served on them but on Nov. 10. 2009, however, when he started to “distance himself” from the couple, policemen began looking for him, prompting him to go to Manila. When he tried to get a clearance from the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) for employment purposes, however, agents swooped down upon him due to his pending libel case. For his part, Arnulfo said on learning that if switched political support from Flor to the Cajeses, he would be excluded from the libel case, he reconciled with them. On Feb. 13, 2009, however, policemen picked him up from his Kauswagan residence, saying he had an invitation from the lady mayor to her office. They dropped by the police office, however, where the officers showed him the warrant for his arrest. Police Officer Ranulfo Turan, acting police chief, then called the mayor who instructed him to release the accused as he already switched political support to them.

As early as August 2008, however, the former solon had told him that for switching political loyalty, the case against him will be archived. By April 2009, he was hired as a casual worker under the lady mayor but was laid off after the May 2010 elections. During his employment, he was tasked, together with former Municipal Councilor Teodoro Suello, to organize supporters and campaign for her Danao town as she was running for congressman of the 2 nd District. In August 2010, however, he was hired again as casual employee, designating as project monitoring officer for the hauling of sand and gravel by the former solon, now the incumbent mayor. He worked as such until Oct. 13 when he filed his cewrtificate of candidacy for barangay kagawad. Arnulfo executed the affidavit to prove that the case filed against him and his co-accused is “purely political harassment intended to force them to surrender and give their political support” to the Cajes couple instead. He supported his affidavit with copies of approved trip tickets, transportation request forms and issuances of fuel and oil that he had used as project monitoring officer. The Lingeras and Arnulfo affidavits with their annexes now support the cases Flores has filed against the Cajes couple. By JUNE S. BLANCO