CITING Provincial Board (PB) Member Juan Bolo’s “active and direct participation,” the Balili Properties Review Committee recommended an investigation on the Capitol legislator.
This is aside from their recommendation for an administrative investigation on the Cebu Provincial Appraisal Committee (CPAC).
Bolo refused to comment, saying he was not given a copy of the committee’s full report. He also did not say if he expected the result, but that he intends to speak with Capitol consultant Rory Jon Sepulveda to clarify things.
Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia created the review committee in August last year, after Capitol officials found out that nearly 10 hectares of the 24.7-hectare Balili property were underwater or mangrove lands. The Capitol paid P98 million for the property.
In its report, the review committee said the governor acted within her “discretion, prerogative and authority.”
They said the PB had authorized the purchase and that the price paid was substantially below the fair market value.
The review committee ruled out a proposal to rescind the sale, saying the property is already being developed. (Unlike majority of the PB, Vice Gov. Greg Sanchez and PB Member Victoria Corominas have also pushed for a rescission.)
A separate report by the PB, recently released, stopped short of calling for an investigation on Bolo. But it recommended, among others, that legislators should not perform executive functions during negotiations for a planned purchase.
In its findings, the executive committee said Bolo’s direct participation was evident, adding he was the one who brought up the availability of the property to the governor, despite the governor’s initial “non-interest.”
Bolo, the committee added, negotiated with the broker and prepared the memorandum of agreement for the sale, without referring it to the provincial attorney.
As for the governor, the review committee said: “We find nothing wrong with her reliance and adherence to the presumption that officials of the government performed their duties and functions regularly, in good faith and in order.”
If there were errors committed by her subordinates that were belatedly noticed, these could be attributed to the failure of the existing system of administrative checks and balances, they added.
Garcia, in her answers to the committee’s questions, said she was of the impression that the MOA, authorizing her to execute the purchase of the property, went through a regular course.
She said she also received no report about the environment department’s plan to revert the titles issued for parts of the Balili property.
“The information was only known to me when the subject sale was investigated and the regional DENR (Department of Environment and Natural Resources) office volunteered the information,” she added.
Meanwhile, the Committee on Discipline and Investigation has formally started its administrative investigation on three department heads who serve in the Cebu Provincial Appraisal Committee (CPAC).
Discipline committee head Rodrigo Urbiztondo, a lawyer, said the investigation will be given top priority as ordered by the governor.
The lawyer explained that as of the moment, the case is under preliminary investigation. This will determine if there is a basis to file a formal charge against Provincial
Assessor Anthony Sususco, Provincial Treasurer Roy Salubre and Provincial Engineer Eulogio Pelayre.
The preliminary investigation will also determine what office should acquire jurisdiction if a formal charge is filed. Among the options are the Office of the Governor, the Office of the Ombudsman-Visayas and the Civil Service Commission.
Urbiztondo will request the governor to appoint another member of the discipline committee, because Sususco is also a member.
Sepulveda, who also sits in the review committee, said the CPAC members will need to face an administrative investigation because, among others, they did not formally convene to consider the purchase.
The committee also said that the PB clearly relied exclusively on Bolo, then chairman of the municipal and provincial properties committee.
They noted the “lack of clear and definite guidelines and or procedures in the purchase of real property, thus the resolution (for the Balili deal) was passed despite the lack or or incomplete information or the status and condition of the property,” the executive committee’s report added.
The committee was headed by National Bureau of Investigation 7 Director Medardo de Lemos and had six members: Sepulveda; PB Members Peter John Calderon,
Agnes Magpale and Victor Maambong; lawyer Manolette Dinsay; and Adolfo Quiroga of the Provincial Planning and Development Office. (RSA/JGA)