BACOLOD CITY is currently being entertained and intrigued by a hyper-local news – the filing of graft and administrative complaints at the Ombudsman-Visayas against Mayor Albee Benitez, 11 councilors and six others.
The meat of the complaints is the controversial P971,863,100 land banking project of the city government.
Acting as complainant is radioman Roger Ledesma, a blocktimer anchorman at Radyo Pilipino’s DYRL-Bacolod.
The respondents are Mayor Alfredo Abelardo “Albee” Benitez; City Councilors Al Victor Espino, Jude Thaddeus Sayson, Isarel Salanga, Cindy Rojas, Em Ang, Vladimir Gonzales, Psyche Marie Sy, Jayson Isidro Villarosa, Celia Matea Flor, ex-Sangguniang Kabataan federation president Ayesha Joy Villaflor, and Liga ng mga Barangay president Lady Gles Gonzales-Pallen; land vendors Jose Marie Ledesma, Sebastian Antonio Ledesma, Leonardo Ledesma, Antonio Ma. Ledesma, and Ma. Eugnenia Ledesma; and Negros Occidental’s acting Register of Deeds, Atty. Raymond Danico.
THE COMPLAINTS
Ledesma alleges that following statutes were violated:
* Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act
* Conflict of Interest Rule (on Code of Conduct and Ethical Standards for Public Officials and Employees)
* Comprehensive Agrarian Reform (CARP) Law
* Comprehensive Rules on Land Use Conversion
His criminal and administrative complaints stemmed from an act of the city government – buying from the Ledesma-Lizares family 74.7587 hectares of land in Hacienda Conchita, Barangay Granada at a price of P971,863,100 or at P13 million per hectare. The money used in the purchase was part of the P4.4-billion loan of the city from the Development Bank of the Philippines in July 2023. The purchased land shall be used by the city for its housing, among other development projects in the pipeline.
Ledesma’s 14-page complaint raised the following allegations/points:
* the land purchased by the city was part of Hacienda Conchita’s Lot Nos. 1118 and 1119 that fell under the purview of the CARP Law of 1998
* both parcels of land still have 34 beneficiaries, or Certificate of Land Ownership Award (CLOA) holders who were former farm workers of the Ledesma-Lizares family and their 16 corporations
* the contentious property is classified as agricultural and not residential, based on records from the Bacolod City Land Tax Office (BCLTO)
* the buying price of P13 million/hectare was “exorbitant” and grossly disadvantageous to the city
* the Bureau of Internal Revenue’s (BIR) Administrative Order No. 041-2017 that states that sugarlands in Bacolod have only a zonal value of P41.50 /square-meter, or P415,000/hectare, thus buying such contested land at P13 million/hectare was a stark contrast to BIR’s valuation order, he pointed out.
According to Ledesma’s complaint, the land purchase was consummated through an Absolute Deed of Sale endorsed and ratified by the Sangguniang Panlungsod, and signed by Benitez on behalf of the city on October 11, 2023. However, he alleged that the land had no conversion clearance yet from the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR), thus it remains agricultural under DAR Administrative Order No. 1, series of 2002.
Ledesma also raised the issue of conflict of interest concerning members of both the land banking and appraisal committees – the city treasurer, city engineer and city accountant. He alleged that there was no more check and balance when members of the land banking committee who recommended the purchase of the land were also the same people who appraised the value of the land.
Ledesma further alleged in his complaint that the acting register of deeds in Negros Occidental was invited as member of the city’s land banking committee and, at the same time, was also the one who registered the Deed of Absolute Sale.
The acting register of deeds, according to Ledesma’s complaint, effected the transfer of the title and the issuance of the new title, all on the same day of November20, 2023 or just 40 days after the said Deed was ratified by the Sangguniang Panlungsod on October 11, 2023.
COMMENTS/REACTIONS
In a Viber message, Mayor Benitez told yours truly that this news is “expected”.
He stated that the graft and administrative complaints against him and 17 others were “politically motivated”.
He further stated in an official statement released by his personal spokesman, Atty. Caesar Distrito, on Sunday night, March 16, that Ledesma was “barking up the wrong tree”.
Also sought for comment, Danico declined because he has not yet received an official copy of Ledesma’s complaint.
Negros Occidental’s Provincial Agrarian Reform Office (PARO)-1 head Teresita Mabunay, on the other hand, neither confirmed nor denied the issue raised by Ledesma. She asked for an ample time to delve deeper on the matter.
LOST, LESS, LAST
Some praised Ledesma for having the courage to make a “head-on collision” against Mayor Benitez. But others tagged him as “lost in the dark”.
Ledesma, however, said what fueled him to file the complaint was his conscience.
Well, I can’t help, but admire Ledesma’s oozing confidence to go to Ombudsman. But whether there is merit or none in his complaints, the ball is now within the orb of the Ombudsman to determine./PN
