Ex-Ecija mayor, 11 others charged over P102-M deal
>> Monday, December 12, 2016
By Manny
Galvez
SAN ANTONIO, Nueva
Ecija – This town’s former mayor has been charged along with 11 others in
connection with the allegedly anomalous government projects amounting to P102
million.
Former mayor Antonino
Lustre and the respondents were charged with plunder, three counts of
malversation and seven counts of violation of Republic Act 3019 or the
Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act.
Aside from Lustre,
named respondents were bids and awards committee chairman Renato Bustamante;
BAC members Julito Galang, Daisy Pili, Mercy Reyes and Constancia Salonga;
engineers Eloy Castillo, Michael Galang and Roberto Odulio; civilians Julito
Semacio and his wife Maritta Semacio, and Pedro Perez of private firm Papisss
Inc.
The charges stemmed
from a complaint filed with the Office of the Deputy Ombudsman for Luzon by
Mayor Arvin Salonga, Lustre’s political rival.
Salonga defeated
Lustre in the May elections by a margin of 200 votes. He said the allegedly anomalous
transactions entered into by the previous administration was discovered when he
assumed office on June 30.
Salonga said these
transactions included the construction of a P52-million commercial building and
a P45-million slaughterhouse and the purchase of agricultural land worth P5
million.
The projects were
reportedly not specified in the annual budget and the respondents rigged the
bidding to favor Papisss Inc.
The complaint stated
the projects were not authorized by the municipal council and the invitation to
bid for them was posted on a local newspaper instead on the Philgeps or the
municipal website.
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