Anti-Kaliwa Dam priest challenges Ombudsman case dismissal

MANILA, Philippines — A convener of the Stop Kaliwa Dam Network filed a petition for certiorari before the Court of Appeals (CA) on Thursday, challenging the dismissal of an Ombudsman case against officials involved in the construction of the project's access road.

Fr. Pete Montallana questioned the Office of the Ombudsman's notice dismissing his complaint against officials from the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) and the Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage Systems (MWSS). 

The petition stated that the Ombudsman committed "grave abuse of discretion in dismissing the case without sufficient discussion of its factual and legal basis." 

A special panel of Ombudsman investigators said in an October 2023 notice that they found no sufficient basis to support the filing of criminal and administrative charges against DPWH and MWSS officials.

In his petition, Montallana urged the CA to order the Ombudsman to conduct the necessary fact-finding investigation, and to file appropriate administrative penalties against DPWH and MWSS officials.

The petition argued that the Ombudsman dismissed the case despite admissions under oath by the respondent government officials during a 2020 Senate inquiry on the impacts of the construction of the P12.2-billion Kaliwa Dam project in Rizal and Quezon provinces. 

It said the statements made by the respondents during the Senate investigation are "indubitable evidence that they have violated several laws and regulations" including the Indigenous Peoples Rights Act, the Revised Forestry Code, and the Expanded National Integrated Protected Areas System Act. 

"These public officials must be held accountable over the trees and mountain surfaces carved out by access road construction that are clearly located within the Real, Infanta, Nakar Protected Landscape," Montallana said. 

Ryan Roset, senior legal fellow of the Legal Rights and Natural Resources Center (LRC), also said that no ground specified in Section 20 of the Ombudsman Act of 1989, required for the outright dismissal of an administrative case, was present in the complaint-affidavit.

Work on the access road for the Kaliwa Dam project was believed to have started around