More evidence of Baguio market racket found

MISSING INCOME | A growing amount of evidence on padded receipts and illegal transactions at the Baguio City Public Market by city collectors has surfaced to reveal a scam that has been victimizing unsuspecting vendors in the last 10 years. (Photo by EV ESPIRITU / Inquirer Northern Luzon)

BAGUIO CITY, Benguet, Philippines — Fabricated transactions and multiple duplicates of city treasury receipts were submitted by local traders to Mayor Benjamin Magalong on Monday, expanding the evidence of an alleged public market syndicate that has pocketed as much as P50 million in revenues.

The city government received the evidence after Magalong made a public appeal for market vendors to help him fight corruption at Baguio’s premier market hub.

Five to six more people will face criminal malversation complaints this week for reportedly “shaving off most of the payments made for cargo delivered to the Baguio City Public Market,” the mayor said after Monday’s flag-raising ceremony.

They will join five employees charged last week by the local police. Two other employees were implicated in the scam earlier, but the city government has not provided details about their case.

Magalong estimated that the thefts have been taking place for the past 10 years, so the investigation would include people who have since retired or resigned from City Hall.

The mayor said the city’s finance committee was reviewing and improving the city’s collection system after a cursory examination conducted by market superintendent Marieta Alvarez uncovered discrepancies between archived market receipts and what merchants actually paid. The offices of the city treasury, budget, and accounting are part of the finance committee.

‘Ghost transactions’

Some collectors reportedly took up to P6,000 in payments while recording only P70 in collections, he said.

A list detailing the anomalous payments was included in the first police complaint filed with the Baguio City Prosecutor’s Office on July 20.

Magalong said the new receipts that were turned over to him by vendors revealed “ghost transactions” and official receipts that were reissued multiple times in an attempt to conceal the thefts.

Cargo payments used to involve a ticketing system that was replaced with receipts in 2020, but the group behind the racket found a way around that, the mayor said.

Before pursuing the alleged market syndicate, Magalong on July 5 filed a complaint of corruption against officials and a contractor of the Department of Public Works and Highways before the Office of the Ombudsman over a delayed and poorly constructed sidewalk.

In the Ombudsman complaint, Magalong cited instances when the Baguio engineering office allegedly tolerated the “substandard” and “defective” workmanship of the contractor.

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