FORMER Gov. Arthur C. Yap cried foul on the plunder case against him even if “No case has as yet been filed against me” at a time when the news broke out sometime last week.
The former governor was apparently reacting to the news item that came out September 24 in one of the weeklies when, at that time, the plunder case was not filed yet.
The said case was filed on September 26, or two days after the publication, as shown in the received copies of the complaint by the office of the Ombudsman.
The said received copy has no case number, yet. But the case title is for: Plunder and violation of section 39 (e) of Republic Act No. 3019, or the Anti-Graft and Practices Act.
The complainants are Leoncio Evasco, Jr., Suceso Arcamo, Macario Delusa, Dan Neri Lim and Emmanuel ”Willy” Ramasola. Evasco was the former cabinet secretary under President Duterte’s administration; Arcamo was former judge of regional trial court; Delusa was the former provincial prosecutor; Neri Lim the former city mayor; and Ramasola, a businessman and social media influencer.
Named respondents of the said complaint are former Bohol Governor Arthur Cua Yap, Kathyrin Fe D. Pioquinto, Giselle Quimpo, Julius Gregory B. Delgado, Camilo Gasatan, Peter Ross M. Retutal and Cesar Tomas Lopez. Pioquinto was the former provincial administrator under Yap’s admin; Quimpo was his chief of staff; Gasatan the provincial engineer; Retutal the provincial budget officer; and Lopez was former acting provincial health officer.
This writer tried to contact other respondents for their side to also come out. Lopez responded that he cannot comment for he has not received a copy yet. Same with Gasatan. Retutal did not reply.
But Yap posted in his facebook account as a response to the published plunder complaint. Hereunder is his remarks. He captioned it, “Weep for Bohol.”
“Plunder Case?” I am not surprised. Are you surprised? You should not be…
When the Aumentado government took over Bohol, the first official act it made was to create OGAR. A body to persecute me. It was a sign of what the Provincial Government was going to devote itself to. Not uplifting the lives of our people. But focus on my persecution instead. Ensuring my name is destroyed in Bohol to prevent me from ever returning to serve Bohol and to quench the bitter lust for revenge of a few.”
“No case has as yet been filed against me and already the Bohol Chronicle, an extension of the Provincial Government, trumpets I have been charged with plunder. The Bohol Chronicle operates under the protection of the Constitution and yet, it does so by trampling on my civil rights: my right to be heard, to due process, and to be presumed innocent until proven guilty.”
“I have received messages of sympathy and pity for what Aumentado, Dejaresco, Evasco, Lim, Ramasola and the others are doing against me. I say thank you to those who are concerned but pity yourselves more.”
“What has the Provincial Government done for you? We used to plant, mill and bag our own rice, we used to give rice to every family in Bohol, “every” barangay used to get a project, nobody in the Capitol was unjustly persecuted, we celebrated our faith and culture with programs, we took care of the youth who needed support and counseling, we helped the elderly by providing them medical attention, we expanded our scholarship program into the medical arts.”
“We used to value life and sought to protect it by providing fresh desalinated waters to island barangays, we modernized our dialysis facilities in Talibon, provided more than 100 million for housing for Odette victims, took a hard line against drugs and kept our food safe by keeping Bohol ASF-free. These projects made us “The Most Competitive Province in Central Visayas” for two years. Today, each of these projects, among others, are under attack.”
“We elect leaders so they can do their best. The Aumentado Government instead, is doing its worst. Along the way, it is insulting the people. Instead of meaningful projects, they are focusing on Facebook and sound-bites: apparently, in their eyes, that is all the Bolanon is worth.
I will defend myself until these baseless accusations are defeated. Meantime, do not be surprised by the Provincial Government’s move. Instead: Weep for Bohol.” (rvo)
