2 years later, still no case

THE TALIBON DAM SCAM

TWO years after graft charges were filed in connection with the P165-million Talibon dam scam, the Office of the Ombudsman Visayas still has not filed a single case in court. The Boholanos Against Corruption, Oppression and Social Harassment (Bacos) filed the case arising from “unearthed anomalies relative to the funding release” for the supposed construction project of the P165-M Talibon Small Irrigation Project last July 14, 2004.

The scam was given prominent treatment by the Inquirer and GMA 7. Despite the coverage given to it by national and provincial media, the Ombudsman Visayas has not moved an inch. “This is an anniversary statement of both pain and hope,” declared Bacos in a statement issued Friday, the second anniversary of the filing of the graft case. The statement was sent to media outlets Friday signed by engineer Petronilo Sarigumba and lawyer Artemio Cabatos, Bacos spokesman and chair respectively.

Two years after Bacos filed the case against provincial irrigation officer Calixto Seroje and all those responsible for the ghost project in Barangay Zamora, Talibon town, the Visayas Ombudsman still has to file a single case in court. In its complaint, Bacos said the funding allocation has been used up, but the reservoir has remained a ghost.

The group recalled that “after enervating months of investigation, which we found unusual”, the Ombudsman (Visayas) finally came up with a Final Evaluation Report finding prima facie evidence against Seroje and, possibly other National Irrigation Administration (NIA) officials. “Of course, those of us who have spent long years in vindicating people's rights and protecting them against unlawful invasions by corrupt officials ‘danced' to the heavens over that positive development,” Bacos said. To its dismay however, Bacos said that until now no charges have been filed in court in connection with the case.

“Two years of waiting is far from the ordinary, leading us to suspect that certain ‘powerful' officials of the GMA regime are dipping their malicious hands into the case,” Bacos added. Bacos said the failure of the Ombudsman to act on the case is a “big blow” to the government in its avowed campaign against corruption.

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