Legarda’s extended medical leave now ‘suspicious’ – Ombudsman

MANILA, Philippines — The Office of the Ombudsman on Tuesday said Sen. Loren Legarda’s extended leave of absence for medical reasons now seems “suspicious” in view of the plunder and graft complaints she and her son, Batangas Rep. Leandro Leviste, currently face.

Assistant Ombudsman Mico Clavano also said the antigraft agency has also learned that Leviste had asked for a two-month travel authority from the House of Representatives from July 26 to Sept. 24.

“We were able to obtain a (copy of his) travel authority wherein he asked for two months of leave,” said Clavano in a press conference. “He listed several countries he would want to visit.”

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Repeated extensions

Leviste, however, was still in the country on July 27 as he was among the House members present during President Marcos’ State of the National Address that day.

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READ: Legarda rejects Ombudsman’s ‘suspicious’ remark on medical leave

As for Legarda, Clavano said the senator asked for an extension of her travel authority until Aug. 19. She first filed a medical leave in Aug. 3.

“Senator Loren Legarda, I believe, is in the third or fourth extension of her travel authority for medical reasons, which we have begun to find quite suspicious already,” Clavano said.

“To us, we want to err on the cautious side of things. We need to flag that already because they already have an ongoing case in the Ombudsman,” he said.

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READ: Cayetano, Legarda still absent from VP impeachment trial

On July 31, five days before the start of Leviste’s intended leave, Ombudsman Jesus Crispin Remulla announced that Leviste, Legarda and former Energy Secretary Alfonso Cusi were undergoing preliminary investigation for plunder and graft.

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According to a statement released by the Ombudsman, the mother-and-son lawmakers and Cusi allegedly “conspired to secure exclusive government rights over the country’s solar energy resources through legislative and regulatory actions.”

But “many of the projects were never developed as promised” and the terminated contracts resulted in more than P10.44 billion in unpaid financial obligations to the government, the statement said.

Without mom’s help

Remulla then also said that Leviste, who founded Solar Philippines Power Project Holdings Inc. in 2013 when he was just 20 years old, could not have obtained the exclusive contracts without the help of his mother “who used her position so her son could get franchises.”

Legarda was then chair of the Senate finance committee.

The preliminary investigation, which could lead to formal charges before the Sandiganbayan, follows a fact-finding probe which began in January this year on orders by Remulla last November.

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Clavano on Tuesday said the Ombudsman could no longer ask the Sandiganbayan for a travel ban on Legarda and Leviste since they are already outside the country, rendering the matter moot. —WITH A REPORT FROM KENNETH CHRISTIANE BASILIO