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By Jomar Canlas, Reporter
SEN. Aquilino Pimentel Jr. and
his son senatorial candidate Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel 3rd was
charged at the Office of the Ombudsman on Monday by the former
lawyer of ex-Comelec Commissioner Virgilio Garcillano.
In complaint, the lawyer, Atty.
Ed Tamondong, alleged that the Pimentels used government resources
to campaign for Koko and the Genuine Opposition candidates.
In a six-page complaint-affidavit
by Tamondong, a native of Cagayan de Oro like the Pimentels, accused
the father and son respondents of committing conspiracy to violate
three laws—Republic Act 3019 or the Antigraft and Corrupt
Practices Act, RA 6713 or the Code of Conduct and Ethical Standards
for Public Officials and Employees and RA 6650 or the Franking
Privilege Law.
Tamondong was the secretary of
the Commission on Appointments when Senator Pimentel was Senate
president.
The complaint is based on letters
sent out by Senate Minority Leader Pimentel during the current
political season. He allegedly used his official Senate stationery
and mail envelopes asking the addressees to vote for his son and the
11 other candidates of the Genuine Opposition.
One of the letters was sent to
Judge Bonifacio Maceda Jr. of Las Piñas Regional Trial Court of the
Branch 275.
The letter is written on the
Senate stationery of the senator and bears his photo and that of his
son. It contains the message, “May I beg you to support and vote
for my son, Aquilino Pimentel for senator in the May election . . .
kindly vote for Pimentel and his colleagues in the coalition, GO, in
your ballot.”
That letter is presented by
Tamondong as evidence “Annex A” with its franked envelope marked
“Annex B.” Both are meant to prove that it was sent as
“official mail” which means the senator campaigned for his son
at government’s expense.
Tamondong said the franking
privilege law allows the use of it by members of Congress for their
official businesses, duties and activities, not for purely
political, partisan, family or personal purposes.
“With the cost of ordinary
stamp at P5 for every envelop mailed, the respondents, even if they
have sent out a very conservative figure of 100,000 such letters,
have already deprived the government of P500,000 in unpaid stamps.
If they mailed out 1 million letters, which correspond to about 2
percent of the voters, the respondents have stripped the government
of P5 million in unrealized postal revenue,” the complaints says.
“Senator Pimentel who likes to
preach on good governance and the rule of law, and who has long
styled himself as the keeper of official morality has, together with
his son, caused undue injury to the government and grave unwarranted
benefits and advantage to the other candidates,” Tamondong said.
He also said that the father and
son is putting a dynasty in the Senate, but worse they misused,
abused and overused the Senate resources and the congressional
privilege for purely partisan and personal purposes. It is a clear
violation of the Ethical Standards law and the Antigraft law.
Tamondong, told The Manila Times,
that he is filing the case on his own volition and has no connection
with his former client, Virgilio Garcillano, who became famous for
the “Hello, Garci” scandal. The lawyer said that it was his
crusade to clean his hometown Cagayan de Oro of people who allegedly
do “irregular and illegal works.” 
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