An interim official of a government firm has been accused of being a “usurper” and was charged before the Ombudsman amid the battle for control of the Manila-Cavite Expressway (CAVITEX).

Metro Pacific Tollways Corp. unit Cavitex Infrastructure Corp. (CIC), operator of the expressway, filed yesterday criminal cases before the Ombudsman against Dioscoro Esteban, officer-in-charge of the state-owned Public Estates Authority Tollway Corporation (PEATC).

Metro Pacific Tollways Corp. (MPTC) is a member of the Manuel V. Pangilinan group of companies.

CIC’s complaint cited perjury, slander, usurpation of authority and violation of the anti-graft law against Esteban.

“The statements (Esteban) made in public against CIC (contained) false accusations of crimes and defects and therefore dishonored the reputation of CIC,” CIC counsel Criselda Funelas, the complainant in the Ombudsman case, said.

Funelas said the act of a public officer “claiming to be authorized when he is not authorized is a crime of usurpation.”

The same claim, made under oath, is perjurious. His acts were done in bad faith and showed manifest partiality against CIC and gross inexcusable negligence which are crimes under Republic Act 3019 or the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act.

Full accountability needed

“As a public officer, OIC Esteban must be fully accountable for his illegal acts,” Funelas said.

Esteban earlier filed a petition for a writ of mandamus with the Court of Appeals (CA) and, while issuing public statements, attacked CIC.

The CIC said its action seeks to make Esteban, a public officer, accountable for his act of misrepresenting the PEATC in filing the petition for mandamus against the private firm.

The mandamus petition was for the CA to order the return of the Cavitex to government ownership.

A writ of mandamus will remove CIC’s right to manage Cavitex and transfer its control to PEATC, including its toll business.

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, the CIC counsel said.

According to the CIC’s complaint, PEATC does not have a board of directors, yet OIC Esteban misrepresented the fact of his authority to file the mandamus case when he swore under oath in his petition that he was 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.

PRA absence questioned

In an earlier statement, MPTC said PEATC should have named its parent agency, the Philippine Reclamation Authority (PRA), as one of the respondents given its role in handling the Cavitex.

MPTC said Esteban is circumventing the proper authority in filing the petition for mandamus.

“The petition against the CIC was filed by Mr. Dioscoro Esteban Jr., officer in charge of PEATC, who lacks the authority of the PRA or of the PEATC board to file such a petition,” MPTC said.

“With the project being a joint venture with the PRA, any legal dispute involving the CIC should have rightfully included the PRA as an indispensable party,” MPTC said.

MPTC expressed its dismay over PEATC opting to go to court even after the company had invited the agency to a dialogue to negotiate and resolve their issues.

If the writ is granted, the CIC will be required to turn over all of its contract services to the PEATC.

The PEATC said CIC’s authority to operate Cavitex had expired, warning the government that it was bound to lose revenues if CIC continued to run the tollway.

In its petition, PEATC alleged that the government lost as much as P2.4 billion in 2023 to CIC in missed tolls.