(Diego Magpantay holds copy of the complaint against BCDA EVP Aileen Anunciacion Zosa. Contributed photo)
CLARK FREEPORT— A complaint for usurpation of authority and graft against Bases Conversion and Development Authority (BCDA) executive vice president and chief operating officer Aileen Anunciacion Roa-Zosa was filed at the Office of the Ombudsman last Thursday (Oct. 3).
The Citizens Crime Watch (CCW) filed the case versus Zosa before the Ombudsman which was earlier filed before the Presidential Anti-Corruption Commission (PACC).
The CCW said it pulled-out the complaint from the PACC because of its alleged silence and inaction.
“The silence and inaction on the part of PACC from the day I filed my complaint on Sept. 10, 2019 made me decide to withdraw the complaint,” said Atty. Raymund Palad, CCW counsel.
The BCDA has earlier said the charges against Zosa are “baseless.”
The CCW withdrew the case from the PACC through a notice on Oct. 1, CCW president Diego Magpantay said.
“The CCW decided to directly file the complaint at the Office of the Ombudsman being the ultimate body that will decide whether or not cases shall be filed in court,” Palad explained.
The CCW said Zosa was: “without any legal appointment” from February 2016 up to present because the Governance Commission for Government-Owned and Controlled Corporations (GCG) has abolished the Office of the EVP in the BCDA restructuring plan through Memorandum Order No. 2015-07.
“Yet she continues to receive salaries, benefi ts and emoluments to the damage and prejudice of the government, the BCDA in particular,” a part of the seven-page complaint said.
At Salary Grade (SG) 30, Zosa gets roughly P5 million a year, Palad said.
The CCW estimated that the government has lost P15 million through Zosa’s false representation. Zosa, according to CCW, has not been issued an appointment paper after the 2016 restructuring plan. Her last appointment was on Feb. 1, 2010, Palad said.
“Considering the seriousness of the charges in this complaint, involving as it does disbursement of public funds to an usurper of public office, it is prayed that immediate investigation be conducted and appropriate charges filed, if warranted,” the CCW’s request to the Ombudsman said.
In a memorandum dated June 25, 2019, Civil Service Commission director IV Judith A. Dongallo-Chicano referred CCW’s request for investigation to CSC field office director II Imelda R. Banzon.
“It’s been four months now but we have not been informed about the result of the CSC investigation. Two agencies seemed to have acted slowly on CCW’s vigilant fight against corruption. This does not speak well of the Duterte Administration’s thrust for honesty in government,” Magpantay lamented.
