The Office of the Ombudsman has ordered a six-month preventive suspension of 12 officials implicated in the controversial flood control project in Oriental Mindoro.
Atty. Juanito Lim, counsel for Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) maintenance division chief Juliet Calvo, confirmed the suspension during Tuesday’s arraignment before the Sandiganbayan Fifth Division.
“We have just received that they are being suspended for six months, an order from the Office of the Ombudsman,” Lim told the court. The suspension was later confirmed by Assistant Ombudsman Mico Clavano.
Of the 12 officials, 10 are DPWH Mimaropa personnel, including Calvo; Regional Director Gerald A. Pacanan; Assistant Regional Directors Gene Ryan Alurin Altea and Ruben delos Santos Jr.; Chief of Construction Division Dominic Gregorio Serrano; Project Engineer III Felisardo Sevare Casuno; Materials Engineer Timojen Adiong Sacar; OIC Chief of Planning and Design Division Montrexis Tordecilla Tamayo; OIC Chief of Quality Assurance and Hydrology Division Dennis Pelo Abagon; and Accountant IV Lerma Dotado Cayco.
The remaining two, Grace Lopez and Frierich Camero, served in DPWH Mimaropa’s Bids and Awards Committee for the project. Clavano said the suspension stems from an administrative case filed alongside criminal charges.
Last month, the Sandiganbayan issued arrest warrants against former Ako Bicol Rep. Elizaldy “Zaldy” Co and others over graft and malversation linked to the substandard P289.5-million river dike project in Oriental Mindoro. Of the 10 DPWH Mimaropa officials, all except Sacar are already in government custody.
Co remains at large and is reportedly in Portugal, according to the latest information received by Interior and Local Government Secretary Jonvic Remulla.
Sunwest president and board chair Aderma Angelie Alcazar and Sunwest treasurer Cesar Buenaventura are also believed to be abroad, last seen in New Zealand and New York, respectively.
