By NITZ ARANCON
Correspondent
THE Office of the Ombudsman has ordered Mayor Oscar Moreno and 17 others to answer fresh graft charges filed by a mayoral candidate in his hometown in connection with a dispute over a property and quarrying operations in Barangay Balulang, this city.
In a two-page order signed in Jan. 19, a copy of which was furnished this paper on Tuesday, Office of the Ombudsman-Davao officer in charge Marco Anacleto Buena directed Moreno and the other respondents to answer the accusations of businessman Reynaldo Zarate.
Zarate, a mayoral candidate in Moreno’s hometown Balingasag, accused the mayor and other officials of grave abuse of authority, grave misconduct, manifest partiality, gross violation of RA 6713 and RA 3019, falsification of public documents, trespass, malicious mischief, and of violation of the Mining Act.
Included as respondents in Zarate’s complaint are Councilor Zaldy Ocon, Balulang barangay chairman Alfredo Carcosa, City Local Environment and Natural Resources Office chief Edwin Dael, Mines and Geosciences Bureau regional director Rex Monsanto, City Social Welfare Office chief Teddy Sabuga-a, former City Mining Regulatory Board (CMRB) member Ralph Abragan, and businessman Peter Go.
Monsanto is the chairman of the local mining regulatory board while Sabuga-a is vice chairman. Ocon, former chairman of the city council’s environment committee, sits in the regulatory board.
Also charged were various environment and barangay officials that include Daniel Belderol, Rodante Felina, Bernardino Silvosa, Balulang barangay secretary Virgilio Pendre, Jun Perew-Perew, Guy Nelson Radaza, Jun Mangadlaw, Normal Rosal, Roy Baltazar, and Romeo Tidadul.
Zarate asked the ombudsman to issue a preventive suspension order against Moreno and the other officials “to allow the free flow of the investigation, and to prevent the respondents from exerting influence and holding other documents under their direct control and supervision.”
In an eight-page affidavit, Zarate, who stated in his document that he was a resident of Xavier Heights, Upper Balulang, this city, filed the complaint after officials allowed Go to engage in sand and gravel quarrying in Balulang. He alleged that Go’s operations affected his 18,871-square meter property.
City hall and environment officials however consider the property being claimed by Zarate as a sandbar.
Zarate has maintained that his claim is legitimate, arguing that while near the Cagayan River, he has a tax declaration, and could show that he bought the property from one Ruben Balan.
He accused city hall and MGB officials of favoring Go, and of altering a 1983 sketch plan of the Bureau of Lands in favor of Go.
“Ang yuta ni Peter Go na-a sa likod sa akong yuta. Aron maka-quarry si Go, ilang gi-usab sa city hall ug MGB, ang sketch plan sa akong yuta,” Zarate alleged.
He also alleged that he was not granted a permit to quarry because of the “altered” sketch plan.
“Sa dihang ilang gi-usab ang sketch plan sa akong yuta, ilang gibalhin ang suba didto sa portion sa yuta ni Peter Go nga na-a sa likod sa akong yuta, ug ang akong yuta, nahimo nga hino-on nga sandbars,” Zarate alleged.
Buena gave Moreno and the other respondents 10 days from receipt of the order to submit their answer.
Buena also cautioned the respondents against submitting prohibited pleadings and dilatory motions.
He said the ombudsman’s office would investigate Zarate’s allegations with or without counter affidavits from Moreno and the other respondents.
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