Farmers file corruption case vs 2nd richest lawmaker

By: Gil C. Cabacungan - 9 years ago

Negros Occidental Rep. Alfredo “Albee” Bantug Benitez FILE PHOTO

The second-richest member of the House of Representatives is accused by a Negros-based farmers’ group, backed by religious leaders, of using his influence over the Visayas bloc of lawmakers to keep vast farmlands under his family’s control and outside of the coverage of the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP).

Task Force Mapalad (TFM) filed a complaint in the House of Representatives’ committee on ethics and privileges against Negros Occidental Rep. Alfredo “Albee” Bantug Benitez for unethical conduct, conflict of interest, and corrupt practices for his failure to disclose his landholdings in Negros while taking an active role in Congress’ deliberations on a bill extending the CARP to cover lands that have not been distributed to farmers in the last three decades.

Archbishop Antonio Ledesma and Bishop Reynaldo Vasquez were present during the filing.

“Representative Benitez and his family have evaded the CARP for the last 27 years as evidenced by the numerous landholdings that should have been distributed to farmer-beneficiaries of the CARP long ago but have remained under the ownership and control of the Bantug-Benitez clan,” TFM said.

Benitez was charged with violation of House rules, the government’s Code of Conduct (Republic Act No. 6713), Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act, and Article VI of the Constitution which mandates lawmakers to fully disclose their financial interests in their legislative activities.

But Benitez said that TFM was “misled” in filing the case against him because he and his family had long sold off or abdicated their landholdings under the CARP. He said the group was using erroneous data which showed landholdings that were not fit for agriculture production.

In an interview, the lawmaker said TFM could take over any farmland under his or his family’s name if ever they found any.

Benitez said he was also considering inhibiting himself from the voting on the CARP extension bill.

Conflict of interest

TFM claimed that Benitez “abused his public office for private gain and is clearly in a conflict of interest situation” by making amendments to House Bill No. 4296 which would cover 36,000 to 50,000 hectares of farmlands that have not been issued NOCs, or notices of coverage, under the CARP before it expired in June 2014.

“Representative Benitez has a direct interest/stake in landholdings that will be covered and distributed to farmer-beneficiaries of the CARP because some of these landholdings are owned and controlled by his immediate family members,” it said in its complaint.

“To avoid being put into a conflict of interest situation and be accused of committing corrupt practices, Representative Benitez should not get involved in any legislation process related to CARP such as HB 4296 and must inhibit himself from voting on said bill.”

Among the onerous amendments pushed by Benitez was to allow each heir of the landowner to retain up to 5 ha each of their patriarch or matriarch’s landholdings for lands that have not been issued NOCS as of January 2015. Under the law, a landowner who dies after June 15, 1988, and whose land was issued an NOC is allowed to retain a maximum of 5 ha of his landholdings.

TFM claimed that Benitez would directly benefit from these amendments because his family, the Bantug-Benitez clan, has 49 farm lots covering 1,135 ha in the towns of Magalona and Escalante, and the cities of Victorias and Cadiz—all in Negros Oriental that are under CARP coverage.

At least nine of these farmlands had not been issued NOCs, it said.

TFM said at least nine of these farm lots were owned by deceased relatives of Benitez—Betty Bantug Benitez (his mother), Abelardo de Leon Bantug (his maternal grandfather), Remedios Palanca Benitez (his maternal grandmother), and Abelardo P. Bantug (his maternal uncle).

Benitez is the son of former President Ferdinand Marcos’ housing minister, Jose Conrado “Jolly” Benitez.

Gaming firms

Aside from farmlands owned by his relatives, TFM claimed, Benitez also owned land through his gaming company, Leisure and Resorts World Corp. (LRWC), specifically its subsidiary Bapa Holding and Management Corp.

TFM said that while Benitez resigned as LRWC president when he was elected in 2010, he has retained his interest in LRWC based on its 2014 report to the Securities and Exchange Commission.

The Department of Agrarian Reform said Bapa owned 21 agricultural landholdings in Negros Occidental with a total area of 430.63 ha.