Casiguran Mayor Edwin Hamor. Photo from Casiguran LGU Facebook page
MANILA, Philippines — The camp of Casiguran Mayor Edwin Hamor slammed on Friday the “scare tactics” of House Majority Leader Rolando Andaya Jr. against Aremar Construction, the firm owned by the mayor’s daughter.
“It seems that the good congressman is trying to employ scare tactics on my client who has not committed anything wrong except that he has an accidental relation by affinity to his real target – [Budget] Sec. [Benjamin] Diokno,” Ryan Filgueras, Hamor’s lawyer, said in a statement.
This was after Andaya showed transaction receipts from Aremar receiving more than P50 million from a “flood control scam” and that it has reached “plunder point.”
“We are now in possession of bank transaction receipts showing that Aremar Construction received more than P50 million as share in the flood control scam. With this development, the evidence against Aremar has reached the plunder point,” Andaya said.
Andaya added that if Aremar’s income will not reflect in their tax payments, the firm could also be liable for tax evasion.
But Filgueras said Andaya “maliciously” dragged the name of Hamor’s wife, Sorsogon Vice Gov. Ester Hamor, who is the mother in law of Diokno’s daughter.
He noted that Diokno’s in-law, Esther Hamor, did not own the construction firm.
“Aremar Construction is not owned by Esther Hamor, the in-law of Diokno. She does not own even a single share of stock,” Filgueras said.
It was also clarified that the Casiguran mayor’s daughter Maria Hamor, who is the child out of wedlock before the mayor married Esther, owned Aremar.
On Thursday, Andaya pinpointed a “flood-control scam” in the Bicol region that involved millions worth of projects that lacked master plan, which caused flood-prone areas not receiving any funds while others were awashed with cash.
READ: House probe tackles ‘flood-control scam’ in Bicol
Andaya also noted some of the flood-control projects in Casiguran which are the Himaoyan Flood Control (P75 million), Lungib Seawall and Embankment (P80 million), Somal-ot Seawall and Embankment (P100 million), Cagpagol River Control (P45 million), Suji River Control (P25 million) and Poblacion Drainage System (P60 million). /jpv