Foe’s ma files graft raps vs Biñan mayor

THE MOTHER of a mayoral candidate in Biñan, Laguna, filed on Tuesday a plunder case against the town’s incumbent mayor and vice mayor over alleged irregularities in the 2009 acquisition of land for nearly P100 million for the expansion of the town’s public cemetery.

Businesswoman Adelaida Yatco, whose son is running for town mayor, charged Biñan Mayor Marlyn Alonte-Naguiat and Vice Mayor Walfredo Dimaguila Jr., both members of the Liberal Party, with plunder, violations of the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act, as well as administrative complaint for grave misconduct and dishonesty.

Yatco is the mother of Jose Francisco Ruben Yatco, Dimaguila’s rival in the Biñan mayoral race. The outgoing Naguiat, on the other hand, is seeking a congressional seat in the newly-created Biñan district.

The case stemmed from the June 2009 purchase by the Biñan town council of a property owned by Naguiat’s relatives, including her mother, for the expansion of the municipal property, the complainant said.

Both were elected into office in 2007, but Naguiat was out of office at the time of the purchase in 2009 and Dimaguila was the acting mayor.

Yatco said the 29,817-square-meter parcel of land had a fair market value of only P21.5 million but the respondents entered into a “grossly disadvantageous” contract to buy it for P98.4 million, resulting in an unexplained difference of P76.9 million.

“This grossly disadvantageous contract of sale that was entered into by the respondents and the sellers, was for no other reason than to get kickbacks and profit from such transaction,” the complainant said.