Gwen, 7 others face graft raps

The timing couldn’t have been more awkward.

As she delivers her last State of the Province Address (SOPA) today, Cebu Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia has graft cases to answer before the Sandiganbayan.

The Office of the Ombudsman yesterday charged the governor with two counts of graft and one count of illegal use of public funds at the Sandiganbayan for the purchase of land in Naga City, which turned out to be mostly under water.

Charged with Garcia, who is running for senator, are five other Cebu officials and two private land owners who had roles to play in the province’s purchase of the Balili Estate for P98.9 million in 2008.

Garcia was in Manila yesterday to attend  a meeting of the  United Nationalist Alliance (UNA) where she was presented as one of its senatorial candidates.

She  described the charges filed against her as  “political harassment”,  according to news website Rappler.

“It really is a rather surprising turn of events. It would not seem to look as though this is totally an innocent move. Alam naman natin we are now right in the middle of what is beginning to be a political season. These kinds of moves certainly will bring up suspicion of possible political harassment,” Garcia said.

Charged with one count of graft with Garcia were then Provincial Board Member Juan Bolo; Anthony Sususco,  chairman of the Cebu Provincial Appraisal Committee and provincial assessor at the time;  CPAC members Provincial Treasurer Roy Salubre and Provincial Engineer Eulogio Pelayre; Provincial Budget Officer Emme Gingoyon, and Amparo and Romeo Balili, the land owners.

Bail was recommended at P30,000 per case or P90,000 for Garcia’s three cases.

The Ombudsman said Garcia entered into an agreement with the Balilis to buy a portion of the Balili Estate in Naga, Cebu, with an area of 24.9 hectares. The Cebu government had paid the Balilis P98.9 million in two checks.

It turned out that at least 19 hectares of the land were under water, according to the Department of Environment and Natural Resources. Garcia, the Ombudsman said, also signed the deal with the Balilis even though the province had no funds earmarked for it.

The Ombudsman said the officials also lied about the real condition of the land and disregarded findings that more than half of it is under water to ensure passage of a Provincial Board resolution authorizing Garcia to enter into the deal.

Garcia, the Ombudsman said, diverted at least P50 million in government funds intended for “site development and  housing programs”  to pay for part of the estate’s price.

The Ombudsman said the Cebu government lost at least P98.9 million as a result of the deal.

“The disbursement was illegal,” said the Ombudsman.

The Cebu provincial government, it said, “can no longer carry out its plan of site development and housing programs because … 196,696 square meters of 249,246 sq m (of the land) were under water.”

It said the Provincial Board was made to believe that the land was classified as industrial and recreational when it authorized Garcia to pay for the piece of property.

The Ombudsman said Garcia took funds from appropriations for social services to pay the Balilis, exceeding her authority.

The PB, it said, would have known that more than half of the land is under water had not the CPAC disregarded a report of a Technical Working Group and if one of the respondents, PB Member Bolo, had been candid enough to inform the board of the land’s condition.

This was the reason that CPAC members Sususco, Salubre and Pelayre were charged as well, said the Ombudsman.

Capitol spokesman Rory Jon Sepulveda described the filing of the three cases against Garcia as “political harassment.”

“The governor’s lawyer did not receive any notice or resolution,” he said.

“Governor Garcia’s surge in the senatoriable rankings, the rising national interest and awareness of her political intentions, and the apparent prior knowledge of a politican who has no official participation or role in the process, makes us here in One Cebu (party) believe that the filing and its timing is political harassment,” he said.

Sepulveda was referring to Cebu City Rep. Tomas Osmeña who announced in the 888 news forum on Tuesday that the Ombudsman was about to release a preventive suspension order against Garcia over the Balili case.

“We are just interested bystanders waiting for what is that all about. As it is, what we know is what is being reported in the media,” said Sepulveda.

Sepulevda said the governor has never been charged in court before.

He said her defense is being handled by the Makati-based law firm Romulo Mabanta Buenaventura Sayoc and de los Angeles, where Garcia’s daughter, lawyer Christina Codilla-Frasco is a senior associate.

The law firm earlier filed a motion to dismiss the case before the Ombudsman “but there was no resolution to the pleading.”

Sepulveda said he expects Governor Garcia to answer the allegations against her during her speech this afternoon.

“She will have to make a statement, an educated response to the issue. We look at the bright side of things. At least, several people will listen to her SOPA,” Sepulveda said.

Vice President Jejomar Binay and other national figures are attending the SOPA, along with town mayors and barangay captains, who were invited to the 1,700-seat Cebu International Convention Center to listen to the governor give her last SOPA ending her third and last term./Reporter Ador Vincent Mayol, Inquirer With  Carmel Loise Matus