|
By Jomar Canlas, Reporter
ANOTHER controversy follows the graft charges
filed by the Ombudsman against Palawan Gov. Joel Reyes before the
Sandiganbayan. He is now being accused of intervening in the
disposition of another mining case that the Department of Justice
(DOJ) had ordered transferred from the province to a state
prosecutor in Manila.
Ferdinand Pallera, vice-president of Citinickel
Corp., questioned the alleged efforts made by Reyes to stop the
transfer to the DOJ, particularly in the disposition of the case
against Citinickel Mines and Development Corp. and Oriental
Peninsula Resources Group.
It will be recalled that Reyes was charged for
graft and corruption for allegedly abetting Platinum Group Metals
Corp., a small-scale mining firm, in extracting 282,729.35 metric
tons of mineral ores in excess of the 50,000-MT limit allowed by the
Small Scale Mining Law.
Pallera said that he is now wondering why Reyes
is showing undue interest in Citinickel’s case, even furnishing
Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita copies of his letter to Justice
Secretary Raul Gonzalez.
“Why is the Governor meddling in this case?
Why can’t he allow DOJ’s national prosecution service to do its
job without pressure or interference?” Pallera noted, asking
rhetorically.
Based on a letter dated January 17, 2008, the
governor and Palawan Provincial Mining and Regulatory Board member
Mark Concepcion raised objections to the order of Gonzalez to
transfer the preliminary investigation of the Citinickel case in
Palawan to the DOJ in Manila.
Reyes pleaded to the Justice secretary to recall
his January 10 order that would divest the Palawan provincial
prosecutor of jurisdiction in handling the said case.
Gonzalez ordered the transfer of the case to a
State Prosecutor in Manila after receiving complaints from some
officials of Citinickel Mines and Development Corp. and Oriental
Peninsula Resources Group that they were being subjected to
harassment at the Palawan Prosecutor’s Office.
In an antecedent to this case, Concepcion
charged Pallera and several company officials of the said
corporation for violations of Section 103 of RA 7942 (Theft of
Minerals) in view of the construction of roads leading to a pier in
the town of Sofronio Española.
|
