Member-consumers of the Batangas Electric Cooperative II (Batelec II), the country’s largest, are alarmed by the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) decision to take over the criminal cases filed by the National Electrification Administration (NEA) against eight board members of the cooperative who have been linked to alleged multi-million-peso irregularities.

Marilyn Cagimbal, Batelec II general manager, said most of the cooperative’s members view with suspicion the memorandum issued on August 23 by Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez, who had since gone on leave for health reasons, ordering the city prosecutors of Lipa City and Tanauan City in Batangas to turn over the cases to state prosecutors from the DOJ for no apparent reason.

“All we know is that one of the respondents in the case is said to be very influential with the justice department and even the courts, being a long-time mediaman covering the justice and court beats in Manila,” Cagimbal said.

In Department Order 713 that was issued on the same day that he came out with the memorandum, Gonzalez designated State Prosecutors Florencio de la Cruz Jr. and Nolibien Quiambao as acting city prosecutors of Lipa City to conduct the preliminary investigation on the syndicated estafa case filed by the NEA against the eight Batelec II board members.

Similarly, in Department Order 715, Gonzalez designated State Prosecutors Phillip de la Cruz and Bernardo Parico as acting city prosecutors of Tanauan City to take over the falsification case filed by Batelec management against two of the dismissed board members.

The mediaman and seven fellow board members of Batelec II were removed by the NEA on October 5, 2006, after they were found guilty of gross mismanagement and grave misconduct for entering into, among others, a computerization contract worth P75 million without public bidding and the purchase of 10 boom trucks that were allegedly overpriced by almost 100 percent.

The NEA order, signed by former Energy Secretary Raphael Lotilla as chairman and three others, likewise ordered the new set of Batelec II directors to file criminal and civil cases against the dismissed board members, although the eight were reportedly able to secure a status quo order from the Supreme Court in December.

THE P83-million surveillance equipment contract that the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) forged with a private company at the height of the government’s preparation of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) Summit in Cebu last year is not only “grossly overpriced” but is also “systematically flawed,” the complainant in the pending plunder case against the DPWH officials claimed.

SENATE investigators will start on Wednesday a formal inquiry into an alleged illegal investment syndicate involving Performance Investment Products Corp. (PIPC), which incurred losses amounting to millions of dollars worth of investments in foreign-exchange trade in what senators suspect to be “another investment scam.”

Soldiers tasked to augment policemen in maintaining peace and order when the antigraft court renders its decision on the plunder case of former President Joseph Estrada got their final order on Tuesday—enforce the decision, be it against or favorable to the fallen leader.

THE Supreme Court (SC) on Tuesday allowed a limited live media coverage of the Sandiganbayan’s promulgation of the decision in the plunder cases against former President Joseph Estrada.

THE Bangko Sentral management is making life more difficult for an employee, denying him the privilege of overtime work usually on night shifts that boost the meager paychecks of regular work, apparently because of his activism.

A FUGITIVE Japanese businessman, who was ordered deported last year but who managed to disappear, finally surfaced at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport Monday night and was immediately arrested.

Member-consumers of the Batangas Electric Cooperative II (Batelec II), the country’s largest, are alarmed by the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) decision to take over the criminal cases filed by the National Electrification Administration (NEA) against eight board members of the cooperative who have been linked to alleged multi-million-peso irregularities.