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Ombudsman dismisses complaints vs. Baciwa, PrimeWater officials

The Ombudsman has dismissed criminal and administrative complaints filed against 13 officials of the Bacolod City Water District (BACIWA) , Office of the Corporate Government Counsel and PrimeWater Infrastructure Corp. for lack of probable cause.

The Ombudsman ruled on the complaints filed by the Bacolod City Water District Employees Union–National Federation of Labor Unions against the 13 for violation of the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act and the Code of Conduct and Ethical Standards for Public Officials and Employees.

The complaints stemmed from BACIWA’s entering into a Joint Venture Agreement (JVA) with PrimeWater on July 17, 2020.

The complaints are anchored on two causes: the alleged illegal termination of the complainants which was the effect of the implementation of the JVA entered between BACIWA and PrimeWater, and the alleged respondents’ unlawful act of entering into a JVA, which provisions are allegedly disadvantageous to the government.

Both parties admitted that the issue on the legality of complainants’ termination is still pending before the Civil Service Commission (CSC). Therefore, it would be most appropriate to allow the CSC to make a determination regarding the validity of complainants’ termination of employment with BACIWA, the Ombudsman said in a joint resolution.

The Office of the Ombudsman also has no jurisdiction to interpret and determine the validity of the provisions of the JVA. The power to interpret the validity of a contract between the contracting parties solely belongs to the regular courts, the resolution said.

In this case, there is no showing that the court had ruled on the validity of the JVA, it added.

In the absence of any ruling from the court regarding the validity of the JVA, there is thus no basis for this Office of the Ombudsman to conclude that the JVA is grossly disadvantageous to the government and that Section 3 of RA 3019 was violated, it said.

The 13 cleared of the union complaints are Lorenzo Dilag, Lawrence Villanueva, Eduardo Ravena, Mona Dia Jardin, Michael Soliva, Samuel Penado, Jenelyn Gemora, Rommel Paredes, Diana Fe Tan, Adzra Juljiani, Cynthia Javarez, Romeo Sabater and Lily Donasco.*

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