Alvarez sues top Duterte poll funder

Pantaleon Alvarez and Antonio Floirendo Jr.

The battle is on between President Rodrigo Duterte’s two leading Davaoeño allies.

Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez has filed a graft complaint in the Office of the Ombudsman against Davao del Norte Rep. Antonio Floirendo Jr., alleging conflict of interest in the banana magnate’s company’s lease of Davao Penal Colony land.

Floirendo’s family owns Tagum Agricultural Development Corp. (Tadeco), one of the world’s largest banana producers. He was the top financier of Mr. Duterte’s presidential bid, contributing P75 million, or a fifth of his P376-million campaign kitty.

In his complaint dated March 13, Alvarez questioned the joint venture agreement (JVA) first entered into by Tadeco and the Bureau of Corrections (BuCor) in 1969 and extended for another 25 years on May 21, 2003.

Guaranteed share

Under the deal covering 5,308.36 hectares of the penal colony, BuCor receives a guaranteed annual production share of P26.54 million to be increased by 10 percent every five years.

Alvarez said Floirendo violated Section 3(h) of the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act because in 2003, he was serving his second term as a district representative.

The complaint stated that Floirendo had been a consistent stockholder in Tadeco from 1996 to 2013. Although he was not a board member from 2000 to 2007, the complaint stressed that he still had shares in the company.

At the same time, Floirendo also sat as board member in his family’s holding company, Anflo Management and Investment Corp., which consistently held more than half of Tadeco’s shares.

“It is beyond question, that when the consolidated JVA between Tadeco and BuCor was renewed in 2003,respondent [Floirendo] had a clear financial and pecuniary interest in the said JVA. Whether it be as a shareholder of Tadeco and/or as a member of Anflocor’s board,” the complaint said.

Alvarez stressed that Floirendo had an interest in the penal colony land, because without access to it, “the profits of both corporations would plummet and free fall into the red.”

The complaint also invoked Article VI, Section 14 of the 1987 Constitution, which prohibited lawmakers from having direct or indirect interest in “any franchise or special privilege granted by the government.”

Speakership

The filing of the criminal complaint comes amid speculation that Floirendo is plotting to oust Alvarez and replace him with former President and now Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.

She was ousted as deputy speaker on March 15 in a crackdown by Alvarez on House leaders who voted against the death penalty bill.

Both Alvarez and Arroyo denied the rumor when it first circulated in December last year, and again in February.

Reached by phone on Tuesday, Alvarez said “maybe true” when asked if there was any truth to the rumor that Floirendo was orchestrating a coup for the speakership.

“If there’s a coup d’état, we have no control over that,” he told the Inquirer.

Alvarez, however, clarified that his complaint against Floirendo had not been motivated by any struggle for the House leadership.

“This is not an issue of the speakership. I never dreamed of that. I can let it go. Those who are saying it’s an issue are only trying to divert from the real issue,” he said.

Asked about his relationship with Floirendo, he said: “Yes, we’re friends. But our friendship ends where my love for country begins.”

Asked why he questioned the lease after more than a decade, he said: “I only knew now. The previous administration covered it up.”