Ex-mayor convicted of graft in 2009 arrested

CABANATUAN CITY—A former mayor of a city in Nueva Ecija province, who has been convicted of graft, has been arrested on Friday, June 7, according to police.

Police Lt. Col. Jonathan Robert Rongavilla, head of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) in Nueva Ecija, said Efren Alvarez, 69, did not resist arrest when CIDG operatives accosted him in his van on Barayuga Street in Barangay Poblacion South of the Science City of Munoz.

Alvarez is former mayor of Munoz and brother of incumbent Mayor Ernesto Alvarez. Efren is being credited as the brains behind the conversion of Munoz into a science city.

The CIDG served on Efren a warrant of arrest issued by Associate Sandiganbayan Justice Gregory Ong against Efren following his conviction in 2009 of violating the Anti Graft and Corrupt Practices Act. His arrest came nearly 10 years later.

Efren was convicted in connection with irregularities in the construction of a shopping mall on government land in Munoz. He had been sentenced to 10-years in jail, ordered to pay P4.8 million in damage and perpetually barred from holding public office.

The former mayor had claimed he was wrongly convicted because the project had the backing of the city council. ARMAND GALANG  (Editor: Tony Bergonia)