Montoyo: The decision is not yet final

By Dominique Gabriel G. Bañaga

After the Office of the Ombudsman earlier dismissed two criminal cases filed against former Bacolod City Mayor Monico Puentevella surrounding a P50.5 million fund for the Bacolod Southeast Asian Games Organizing Committee (BASOC), Samuel Montoyo, Sr., who serves executive assistant to incumbent Bacolod City Mayor Evelio Leonardia, announced he will file a motion for reconsideration.

“The decision of the case is not yet final,” he insisted.

Montoyo initially brought forward one of the two cases back in 2015.

Ombudsman Samuel Martires earlier pointed out in his order, a “clear and unjustified delay” in the probe by the Field Investigation Office (FIO), which resulted in the dismissal in observance of the respondent’s right to a speedy trial.

Puentevella welcomed the decision, calling it a “vindication” and that it shows the cases were “politically motivated and meant to mislead the public.”

Montoyo earlier implicated incumbent Bacolod City Councilor Wilson Gamboa, Jr., a political ally of Puentevella, with an alleged P1.5 million in unliquidated financial assistance for the Philippine Councilors League-Bacolod (PCL-Bacolod) in 2015, when the city councilor served as presiding officer.

Gamboa has since responded to the allegations, affirming the local PCL chapter’s books of account were closed last November and a journal voucher was issued, which zeroed the account.

He also claimed the issue was raised in an effort to “impute malice.”/DGB, WDJ