Ombudsman revisits 2019 SEA Games case as NBI reopens probe

MANILA, Philippines — The Office of the Ombudsman is reviewing the complaints over the 2019 Southeast Asian Games, five years after it threw them out for lack of evidence, Ombudsman Jesus Crispin Remulla said.

"This morning, I asked my staff to get the whole file from 2021 to see and to look at the possible violations of law," Remulla told reporters at a press briefing Friday, July 17. "We're opening it up muli. Bubuksan namin 'yan."

Remulla said revisiting the case would not be a form of "double jeopardy," where a person is tried twice for the same crime, as the first complaint never produced charges. "Walang double jeopardy. Wala namang na-charge doon," he said.

Remulla's office will first study how the 2021 case was resolved. Once a preliminary investigation starts, he said, it runs 60 days under the office's rules.

The Ombudsman's move is now the second revisiting of the conduct of the 2019 SEA Games, which drew controversy at the time for its logistical failures and alleged questionable spending.  

On Friday, July 17, National Bureau of Investigation Director Melvin Matibag said in a video sent to reporters that subpoenas will go out Monday to 2019 Phisgoc chair Ramon Suzara, chief financial officer Dexter Estacio and corporate secretary John Lester Buenconsejo, who must appear before the bureau on Friday, July 24.

The three will be questioned over alleged funding irregularities in the sports complex built in New Clark City, the centerpiece of the games.

NBI reopens case

The NBI reopened the issue this week after receiving what Matibag called new information and documents on Phisgoc. 

He said investigators are examining some P10 billion allegedly paid through congressional insertions without liquidation, the alleged absence of bidding for the New Clark City complex, and the P50-million cauldron that drew public outrage in 2019. 

Matibag said over P2 billion in government funds flowed into Phisgoc, a private foundation that he says did not get audited. 

The NBI said it may summon Public Works Secretary Vince Dizon, who headed the Bases Conversion and Development Authority when the New Clark City sports complex was built, though Matibag clarified that a subpoena would not make him a suspect.  

Dizon has faced his share of controversy over the 2019 SEA Games. In October 2020, the group Citizens Crime Watch accused him and three others of graft and malversation of public funds. 

The complaint said they conspired to hand Malaysian construction firm MTD Capital Berhad an P8.51-billion joint venture agreement for the sports facilities despite the lack of public bidding.

The Ombudsman eventually dismissed the complaint in a joint resolution in December 2021, saying among others BCDA's choices fell within its business judgment.  

Assistant Ombudsman Mico Clavano IV confirmed the dismissal this week as the NBI announcement brought back renewed focus to the issue.

Timing under fire

Both probes are taking place amid Vice President Sara Duterte's impeachment trial, where former Phisgoc chair Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano sits as a senator-judge. 

Remulla on Friday would not say whether Cayetano would be called in when his office reopens its investigation. "There's a time for everything," he said. 

Cayetano this week accused Matibag of intimidation, noting the NBI's probe was announced days before Matibag was set to testify as a prosecution witness.

He denies any anomaly and says the sports complex was privately funded with no public money used.

Malacañang and the Department of Justice have backed the NBI and said its inquiry is driven by evidence.