Public Estates Authority Tollway Corporation Officer-In-Charge Dioscoro Esteban faces multiple criminal cases before the office of the Ombudsman.
Metro Pacific Tollways Corporation (MPTC) subsidiary, Cavitex Infrastructure Corporation (CIC), slapped criminal complaints against Esteban for perjury, usurpation, slander and violation of the Anti-Graft Law, following the latter’s filing of a petition for mandamus with the Court of Appeals and his public statements attacking CIC.
CIC’s action seeks to make Esteban, a public officer, accountable for his act of misrepresenting the PEATC in filing the petition for mandamus against CIC.
Esteban stated under oath that he is the duly authorized representative of PEATC, despite his lack of any board authority.
Further, he has made various public statements besmirching CIC’s reputation.
According to the complaint, PEATC does not have a board of directors but OIC Esteban misrepresented the fact of his authority to file the mandamus case when he swore under oath in his petition that he is legally authorized by PEATC to file the case. He also filed the petition through private lawyers, which is a gross violation of the rules of the Office of the Government Corporate Counsel (the legitimate lawyers for GOCCs like PEATC), and against the issuances of the Office of the President.
“The statements he made in public against CIC made false accusations of crimes and defects and therefore dishonored the reputation of CIC,” said CIC’s Atty. Criselda Funelas, the complainant in the Ombudsman case.
Atty. Funelas added that the act of a public officer in claiming to be authorized when he is in fact not authorized, is a crime of usurpation. The same claim, made under oath, is perjurious. His acts were in bad faith and showed manifest partiality against CIC and gross inexcusable negligence which are crimes under Republic Act No. 3019 or the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act.
According to the complaint, PEATC does not have a board of directors but OIC Esteban misrepresented the fact of his authority to file the mandamus case when he swore under oath in his petition that he is legally authorized by PEATC to file the case. He also filed the petition through private lawyers, which is a gross violation of the rules of the Office of the Government Corporate Counsel (the legitimate lawyers for GOCCs like PEATC), and against the issuances of the Office of the President.
“The statements he made in public against CIC made false accusations of crimes and defects and therefore dishonored the reputation of CIC,” said CIC’s Atty. Criselda Funelas, the complainant in the Ombudsman case.
“As a public officer, OIC Esteban must be fully accountable for his Illegal acts,” Atty. Funelas concluded.