ABANG LINGKOD Party-list Rep. Joseph Stephen "Caraps" Paduano (Ellson Quismorio/ MANILA BULLETIN)

Abang Lingkod Party-list Rep. Joseph Stephen "Caraps" Paduano believes that there's a need to delve deeper into reports of anomalous land transactions entered into by local government executives all over the country.

And that's exactly what the House Committee on Public Accounts--which the veteran solon chairs--intends to do.

Paduano said the committee unearthed many alleged irregularities and anomalies in several real estate transactions in San Simon, Pampanga where requirements of many laws were not followed.

“Kaya dito nagkaproblema ang San Simon. Madami ding bayan ang gumagawa nito kaya natin iniimbestigahan. You are not following the laws of the land. The necessary requirements should be complied with,” Paduano told local government unit (LGU) officials in San Simon, Pampanga, most of whom were currently suspended, during a hearing of his committee on Wednesday, Feb. 14.

(That's where San Simon got into trouble. There are more towns doing this, that's why we will investigate them.)

“Kailangan palalimin natin ito (We need to deepen the probe) because we cannot allow these things to happen in these municipalities in Pampanga and even in other parts of the country. Dito lang muna tayo magsimula (We will just start here). But sooner or later, we will take a look at municipalities in other provinces and regions, papa-imbestigahan natin yan,” he added.

The committee is investigating allegations contained in House Resolution (HR) No. 1503 filed by Senior Citizens Partylist Rep. Rodolfo Ordañes. The measure seeks an investigation on the actions of San Simon Mayor Abundio Punsalan Jr. and several members of the Sangguniang Bayan (SB) of the municipality.

The allegations include the highly irregular reclassification of 1.4 hectares of agricultural land into industrial, the cancelation of the procurement for a bridge project without first canceling the signed contract of a winning bidder, the illegal use and disbursement of P45 million in public funds to purchase land for the expansion of the municipal hall, and the use of a falsified SB resolution to collect P5 million from a corporation representing regulatory fees.

“This hearing is all about the cases filed against Mayor Punsalan. As of now, we have unearthed the details of the properties being bought by the Municipality of San Simon and the reclassification ordinance being given to some companies and individual titleholders,” Paduano said.

But what is more troubling, he added, were allegations that the municipality was dealing with foreign nationals posing as Filipino nationals, with fake Philippine passports.

“And we will go deeper into this. Kasi lahat ng mga (Because all of the) warehouses owned by Filipino citizens and Filipino corporations might be owned by foreign nationals in San Simon, just like what happened in Mexico, Pampanga,” noted the former House minority leader.

Last year, the House Committee on Public Accounts also investigated anomalous land deals in Mexico, Pampanga where its LGU entered into transactions with one Aedy Tai Yang that were questionable in nature.

In Mexico, it was established that Yang would allegedly purchase hectares of land at P300 per square meter and then sell it to the LGU for almost nine to ten times the price.

“As of now, it was already established in Mexico, Pampanga. We want to know and clarify if the same thing is also happening in San Simon. And I do believe, and I have initial information on this, that this is happening in every part of the country. We should not allow this to happen,” Paduano said.

Under the Constitution, foreign nationals are prohibited to own lands in the Philippines.