Paying for Balili land again

Whether or not it was political mileage that brought two Capitol officials to the Balili estate last Wednesday, Cebuanos deserve to know what is happening in the province-owned property in barangay Tinaan, Naga City that was bought with almost P100 million in taxpayers money.

The variety of answers given since 2008 have run the gamut from bangus farming to coal ash waste pollution to international port dreaming.

After two checks were signed with amazing ease in favor of the private land owners, the transaction – including a $1 million deal on the side with Korean power plant investors to use the property for a waste disposal facility – looked more like land speculation maximized on both ends.

The public never got a consistent answer for why so much money was being poured into property that was more than 80 percent under water.

Last August, what was clear was that the Ombudsman smelled graft.

Criminal charges were filed against the governor and seven others, a case that has yet to see its first day of trial in the Sandiganbayan.

The 24.7 hectare coastal property – what happened to the purchase, who benefited from it, and what will happen now to the vast estate deserves public scrutiny.

If the land itself is Exhibit No. 1 in a graft case, why are more public funds being spent to cover the surface with limestone and soil?

Allegations of a coverup won’t influence the Sandiganbayan justices since the facts of purchase and the original state of the foreshore land have already been established as hard evidence.

You can pour concrete over the whole estate, and that wouldn’t change the history of the transaction.

But why spend more funds on land whose future remains unclear?

There may even be more irregularities involved if it’s true that a P27 million contract to excavate and reclaim land there has no approval from the Provincial Board.

Land moving work doesn’t happen for free. Who’s paying the bill? That’s a question that deserves a clear answer.

If Vice Gov. Agnes Magpale, and Provincial Board Member Arleigh Sitoy are accused of “trespassing” for visiting the government-owned land without a permit from Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia, how much of a chance do ordinary citizens have of entering to find out what’s going on as well?

You’d have to get past shotgun-ready security guards in the Balili estate. It would be more violence-free to just answer questions of public interest.