The pressure on the critics of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has been cranked up some more as the tandem of the Ombudsman and the National Bureau of Investigation has bared its investigations and charges against Batangas Rep. Leandro Leviste, his mother Senator Loren Legarda and some of their allies.

The Office of the Ombudsman announced that it had filed cases of plunder and graft against Leviste and Legarda which will undergo a preliminary investigation.

In a briefing, Ombudsman Jesus Crispin Remulla said the cases stemmed from alleged anomalies in Leviste’s securing of exclusive rights to his solar energy network.

Recto a target

The NBI, meanwhile, stumbled into a plan to frame Executive Secretary Ralph Recto.

NBI Director Melvin Matibag said an operation against a suspected pimp in Manila led to the uncovering of a plot targeting Recto that led to individuals identified with the political opposition.

The suspected sex trafficker, who had a “stable” of pricey girls, told investigators that former Negros representative Jacinto “Jing” Paras had allegedly contacted him to carry out the purported scheme.

The NBI reported the suspect claimed that he and four women were each promised ₱1 million in exchange for accusing Recto of forcing them to use illegal drugs and engage in sexual acts.

It further alleged that the suspect identified Leviste as the purported financier of the alleged operation.

The group was allegedly expecting to receive a 30-percent down payment the following week before the NBI operation disrupted the supposed plan.

Charges baseless

Legarda rejected the accusations, which she said were baseless, stressing that no public funds were ever involved.

The senator added that she had always ensured that she maintained her integrity since beginning her career as a public official in 1998, noting that the allegations were a “taint” on her personal reputation.

Legarda likewise urged the public to remain wary of the information that they hear given the timing and nature of the allegations.

“We remain confident that once the facts are laid bare, we will be vindicated and our names cleared,” she said.

With the development, Legarda became the third member of the Senate alleged to have committed the crime of plunder, as Senator Jinggoy Estrada and Senator Rodante Marcoleta had earlier been charged in separate cases.

Since their arrest, both Estrada and Marcoleta have been detained at the Quezon City Jail in Payatas.

Conspiracy alleged

Remulla said investigators found that Legarda, Leviste, and former Department of Energy Secretary Alfonso Cusi had allegedly conspired to ensure that the Levsite would secure numerous exclusive government contracts and projects that would remain undeveloped.

“This is not something that was done unplanned. When you look at what happened in the Philippines’ energy sector, we really suffered from what they did. While the world was transitioning to solar, here they took the exclusivity of solar power,” he said.

For investigators, the respondents had supposedly established a “virtual monopoly” through the contracts, which were later found to have no indications of being completed.

According to Remulla, the total amount of financial obligations that remained unpaid to the government was around P10 billion.

It was likewise alleged that, due to the non-completion of the contracted renewable energy projects, the public was left paying higher electricity costs because of the additional power generation.

While the Ombudsman has found probable cause, it stressed that the respondents would be allowed the opportunity to explain and answer the allegations being brought up against them.

Gardiola also charged

Aside from Leviste, the Ombudsman also announced that it had filed a case for conflict of interest against Construction Workers Solidarity Party-list Rep. Edwin Gardiola for malversation in various anomalous flood control projects in Bulacan.

An investigation found that Gardiola had allegedly amassed P879 million through his construction companies that were awarded government contracts.

The Ombudsman said the probe was launched based on recommendations from the since-dissolved Independent Commission for Infrastructure and the Department of Public Works and Highways.