TRABAJO, BUDIONGAN

Ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez has ordered the filing of graft charges against an incumbent provincial board member and a former mayor at the Sandiganbayan. Gutierrez approved the ruling of the Ombudsman-Visayas Graft Investigation and Prosecution Office which found prima facie evidence against Board Member Josil Trabajo and former Carmen Mayor Pedro Budiongan in violation of the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act.

The case stemmed from a complaint filed by Valeriano Nadala Sr., a resident of Poblacion Norte, Carmen, accusing Budiongan and Trabajo, then the vice mayor, of conniving to implement a road improvement project "with their common purpose of having a financial interest in the project."

On March 2003, Budiongan and Trabajo, as municipal mayor and vice mayor, approved road improvement projects in barangays Vallehermoso-Montehermoso and Luan-La Salvacion Roads in Carmen.

Moreover, the Ombudsman found that Trabajo only delivered 1,000 cubic meters of limestone, short of the 501 loads which was paid by the municipal government for P75,150 as evidenced by a disbursement voucher.

"There is therefore, sufficient evidence to warrant a finding of probable cause to hold respondents for violation of Sec. 3 (h) of RA 3019 known as the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act," the ruling said.

Sec. 3 (h) of RA 3019 prohibits a public officer from "directly or indirectly having a financial or pecuniary interest in any business, contract or transaction in connection with which he intervenes or takes part in his official capacity…"

Likewise, the Ombudsman noted that Trabajo obtained the limestone without any extraction permit granted by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR).

While he claimed to have secured a special permit, Trabajo was not able to present a copy of the same.

Trabajo's quarry also encroached on a property owned by one Relaido Jamonil who was paid by the former vice mayor for damages in the amount of P40,000.

It was also uncovered that aside from securing the contract to supply limestone even without quarry permit, the former vice mayor (Trabajo) also used the heavy equipment of the municipality as well as its personnel. He likewise rented the truck of the business establishment owned by the mayor (Budiongan) to haul the limestone.

Trabajo alleged in his counter-affidavit that he was granted a special permit from the provincial government to extract not more than 1,000 cubic meters of quarry materials for the period of September 21, 2001 to November 24, 2001 to supply limestone for the maintenance project of El Progresso Highway contracted by the DPWH and P.T. Contractors.

However, it was found out that while the limestone was already extracted, the contractor decided to get limestone from another source so that the 1,000 cu.m. anapog which was quarried for the El Progresso project was unsold and undelivered for the purpose which it was originally intended.

"The more it shows that precisely he (Trabajo) uses influence to secure the contract to supply anapog so that his alleged unsold anapog will be sold plus the newly quarried limestone including that which was extracted from the encroached land of Jamonil," the resolution stated.

Apprehension and impounding receipts were also found to have been issued by the Office of the Governor dated July 3, 2003 for violation of Provincial Ordinance 93-002, DENR Administrative Order 96-40 and RA 7942 against three trucks owned by Budiongan that were carrying limestone with no extraction permit and delivery receipts.

Moreover, the Ombudsman said that the quarry area is within a Watershed Forest Reserve which is "not an alienable and disposable property, it remains to be the property of the government and so the government should not have spent money to buy limestone materials extracted from government property and on which the vice mayor (Trabajo) has no permit to quarry."