CamSur gov faces admin case, calls suit ‘harassment’
Camarines Sur Gov. Luis Raymond Villafuerte and nine other provincial officials are facing two administrative complaints before the Office of the Ombudsman for a number of allegedly irregular transactions involving the province’s funds.
The complaints were filed by a former provincial board member, Carlo Batalla, who also earlier filed criminal cases against the governor.
Aside from Villafuerte, also named respondents were provincial treasurer Leticia Aliorde; accountant Teresita Genove; budget officer Fortunato Pena; treasurer Mario Alicaway; bids and awards committee (BAC) chair Janis Ian Cleofe; BAC vice chair Jaime Letada Jr.; and BAC members Lovenia Tolosa, Susan Laquindanum and Luzena Bermeo.
In a press statement, Villafuerte said the complaints were a “rehash” of old issues.
“The two administrative complaints filed by Mr. Batalla with the Office of the Ombudsman are totally devoid of merit and are just a rehash of old issues,” he said.
“He obviously used as a basis for the complaints the ‘observations’ contained in a 2009 COA audit report, all of which have been fully clarified and settled by the provincial government,” Villafuerte said.
He said Batalla knew this, which made his actions “malicious” and “pure harassment”.
No board approval
In the first complaint for “grave misconduct, dishonesty and conduct prejudicial to the service,” Batalla cited the officials’ alleged failure to execute a written agreement with producers of the foreign TV show “Survivor” for the latter’s use of the Gota Beach Resort in the Caramoan peninsula.
He alleged that the provincial officials also failed to account for the deficiency in the revenues realized from the TV show’s use of the resort, in violation of audit rules. There was also no indication that the provincial board had approved the transaction with Survivor, he added.
The French-produced Survivor was the first to shoot a season at the resort in 2008. In 2010, three companies from Israel, Serbia and Sweden went to the Gota resort to film Survivor episodes. The province reported an income of P17 million from the latter.
Batalla said the province earned P30 million in 2009 from the use of the Gota resort, and many were expecting a similar income in 2010.
But when the Commission on Audit (COA) asked for copies of the memorandum of agreement to examine the accuracy of the reported income, the province could produce none, he said.
Batalla also alleged that provincial officials had allowed a private corporation, CamSur Events, Inc., to collect registration fees from the participants of the Summit Water CamSur Marathon held in the province. This was a violation of the local government code, he said. The private firm was also allowed to use its own receipts, he added.
It his second complaint for “violations of the procurement law, grave misconduct, dishonesty and conduct prejudicial to the service,” Batalla alleged that the provincial officials, including the BAC members, had disbursed public funds without undergoing the mandated public bidding, still citing the COA report.
Other questioned deals
Among the transactions were the direct contracting of Post Ad Ventures as consultant for the 2009 World Wakepark Championship and Development, and the engagement of the Lichauco Guilas and Villanueva architectural firm to provide site development for the Hunungan Resort.
The other transactions he questioned were the engagement of Tigon Security Investigation and General Services and the payments made for water heaters.
Villafuerte said the provincial government had already settled the “observations” made in the COA report.
“Given the obsessive attention that [Batalla] has paid to everything that my administration has been doing, I am sure that he also knows that all these issues raised in the COA observations have been fully settled.”
“This makes Mr. Batalla’s actions malicious because he has full knowledge that the complaints have no basis. This is pure harrasment because the complaints will not prosper,” Villafuerte said.
The governor said there were “powerful personalities” behind Batalla’s attacks on him and that he was consulting his lawyers on what legal action to take against “this perennial case filer.” With a report from Juan Escandor Jr., Inquirer Southern Luzon
