Ben Madilynn
THE Office of the Ombudsman has reversed its earlier decision to indict former Cebu City mayor Tomas Osmeña for obstruction of justice and suspending him for one year for grave misconduct.
Osmeña’s legal counsel, Armando Virgil Ligutan, said the former mayor is now free of any administrative or criminal charges.
“We are happy that the Ombudsman reversed [its decision] and ordered the dismissal of both the criminal and administrative charges against former mayor Osmeña,” Ligutan said in a statement on Thursday, Sept. 19, 2024.
The administrative and criminal cases were filed against Osmeña by then city police chief Royina Garma after he ordered the release of three individuals allegedly involved in illegal selling of butane canisters containing liquefied petroleum gas from the custody of the Parian Police Station without a court order in August 2018.
These individuals were identified by the police as Ramir Amaca, 33; Romeo Apparece, 42; and Romeo Cuevas, 57.
Ombudsman, in its six-page order, “finds the evidence insufficient to support the supposition that Osmeña intended to facilitate the escape” of the three individuals “in order to impede, frustrate, or delay the successful investigation and prosecution of the cases to be filed against them by the police.”
“Osmeña’s claim that he was merely responding to a request for assistance from his constituents who reported to him about the illegal arrest of the vendors and the illegal seizure of the butane canisters, was never sufficiently contravened by the Complainant (Garma),” the Ombudsman said.
The order dated July 10, 2024 was penned by Assistant Special Prosecutor III Lyn Dimayuga. Deputy Ombusman Jose Balmeo Jr. approved the order on Sept. 4.
The anti-graft office earlier found enough evidence to charge Osmeña with obstruction of justice. It also ruled that the former mayor was guilty of grave misconduct and meted the penalty of suspension from office for one year.
The joint resolution was issued on Feb. 29, 2024, but it was only announced on May 29.
Osmeña’s camp filed a motion last May 10 asking the Ombudsman to dismiss the cases for violation of his right to a speedy disposition of his cases. They then filed a motion for partial reconsideration on June 2, seeking the reversal of the joint resolution.
The joint resolution states that Osmeña was aware that Amaca, Apparece, and Cuevas had been arrested for violating a penal statute; despite knowing this, he took custody of them and ordered their release, facilitating their escape; and his actions appeared to impede, frustrate, or delay the investigation and prosecution.
However, after a detailed review of the evidence, the Ombudsman concluded that there was insufficient proof that Osmeña acted with ill intent to obstruct the case.
As for the grave misconduct case, Osmeña argued in his motion to dismiss that the complaint was filed on Aug. 30, 2018, and he submitted a counter-affidavit on Oct. 26, 2018.
The former mayor said more than five years and eight months had passed without resolution of the case, which he claimed violated his constitutional right to a speedy resolution.
“To hold Osmeña criminally liable, it must also be established that he had the volition or intent to facilitate the escape of Amaca, Apparece and Cuevas for the purpose of obstructing, impeding, frustrating, or delaying the successful investigation and prosecution of criminal cases. This, the Complainant miserably failed to do. Hence, the dismissal of the criminal complaint against Osmeña for obstruction of justice is warranted,” the Ombudsman said.
“For the same reasons, it is clear that the elements of corruption, clear intent to violate the law or flagrant disregard of an established rule are not present in the instant cases. Thus, there is also no substantial evidence to hold Osmeña liable for grave misconduct,” it added. / EHP
