Bacolod City Legal Officer Allan Zamora yesterday said they will request for a 30 days extension in which to file their counter-affidavits to the complaint filed against them for the purchase of the new dumpsite in Brgy. Felisa, Bacolod City.

Charges for violation of the Anti Graft and Corrupt Practices Act, grave misconduct and acts prejudicial to public interest were filed against Mayor Evelio Leonardia, Vice Mayor Jude Thaddeus Sayson, Councilors Greg Gasataya, Homer Bais, Dindo Ramos, Wilson Gamboa Jr., Al Victor Espino, Napoleon Cordova, Roberto Rojas, Alex Paglumotan, Reynold Iledan, and Diosdado Valenzuela by Sarah Teresa Esguerra and Othello Ramos.

Also included in the case are Zamora, City Assessor Maphilindo Polvora, City Treasurer Annabelle Badajos, Bids and Awards Committee chairman Goldwyn Nifras, and Dynasty Agricultural Corp. represented by its president Ester Lopez.

The complainants claimed that the public officials entered into a transaction manifestly and grossly disadvantageous to the Bacolod City government by buying parcel of lots in Brgy. Felisa on July 25, 2008 to be used as solid waste management disposal facility, in an exorbitant, extravagant and beyond the proper price limits.

Zamora said it is just normal for the Ombudsman to request the respondents to file their answer since there is a complaint.

He cited as an example the graft charges he filed against Bacolod Rep. Monico Puentevella in 2007 for the purchase of overpriced computers worth P400,000 each which were distributed to about 71 public schools in Bacolod. He said this was  also entertained by the Ombudsman and Puentevella was asked to answer.

Leonardia said even an anonymous letter will be entertained by the Ombudsman. He said the complainants, Esguerra and Ramos, who work for Puentevella, are the same persons who instigated the rally in Felisa. If they are sincere in helping the city, they should help provide solutions, he added.

Leonardia said “This is part of the plot to put this administration in a bad light. As you have noticed dozens of cases have been filed against us (referring to cases filed involving the government center).”

“It is unfortunate that there are people who think that the basis of perception of corruption is the number of cases filed, which is wrong,” Leonardia said. He said he was informed that only about 5 percent of the cases filed before the Ombudsman gets elevated, so this is just a political ploy, he added.

Leonardia said the number of cases filed depends on how active politics is in a certain place is. The basis, if at all there is corruption, should be the number of convictions, he said.

Polvora, chairman of the City Appraisal Committee, said their basis for the computation was R.A. 8974 and they used the Bureau of Internal Revenue valuation as one of the factors in the determination of just compensation.

The price of a residential lot in a third class barangay in Kabankalan is P350 per square meters, he said, while they have certification to show that the cheapest residential lot in Talisay is P425 per square meters.

Polvora said the dumpsite is not overpriced as alleged and it is very obvious that Bacolod is a highly urbanized city. “You cannot buy a lot here for P100 per square meters,” he said. They have legal basis in computing just compensation for the property in Felisa for the use of a dumpsite, he added.

Councilor Greg Gasataya said these are old issues that are just being rehashed.

“We consider this a propaganda tool”, Leonardia said. The old dumpsite will not be put in Felisa if there had been no approval from the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, he said.

In a worst case scenario, and there are deficiencies, these can remedied since engineering measures can always be taken, he added.*CGS

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