Ilocos Sur mayor, officials sued for resort’s take-over

By Freddie Lazaro

VIGAN CITY, Ilocos Sur — The Dept. of Justice has charged Cabugao town mayor Josh Edward Cobangbang and 15 other municipal officials and employees with serious illegal detention and grave coercion for forcibly taking over a resort more than a year ago in Cabugao.

Reversing an earlier panel of government prosecutors’ ruling that dismissed the charges, DOJ Undersecretary Deo Marco favored the complaint of resort manager Virginia Nicole Savellano-Ong who alleged that she, her four-year-old son and several resort employees were “detained” and “bullied” when the Cabugao Beach Resort was padlocked on Cobangbang’s order.

Marco ruled that all the elements of illegal detention were present when Cabugao municipal employees, following the mayor’s order, without any court order or order from a competent authority, padlocked some rooms, closed the resort’s gates and stationed several believed-to-be armed men on August 23, 2017.

Marco also upheld an earlier ruling by an Ilocos Sur special prosecutor finding probable cause for illegal detention and grave coercion in the case.

Last Jan. 15, Marco ordered Ilocos Sur provincial prosecutors to indict Cobangbang, other town officials and employees for serious illegal detention and grave coercion.