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Manila Bulletin devider Philippines devider Luzon devider NBI sues Cebu town mayor, 10 others before Ombudsman

NBI sues Cebu town mayor, 10 others before Ombudsman

Published Apr 1, 2025 04:26 am

CEBU CITY – Several government officials, including the mayor of  Dalaguete, Cebu, and private contractors, were charged before the Office of the Ombudsman-Visayas for a string of alleged criminal offenses.

The National Bureau of Investigation-Central Visayas (NBI-7) asked the anti-graft court to investigate Dalaguete Mayor Ronald Allan Cesante, Expedizitas Lenares, James Osorio, Sergio Bendulo Jr., Juan Paulo Castillo, Fortunato Sanchez Jr., Alfredo Lua, Mylene Sanchez, Ida Sanchez, Angelica Marie Lua, and Kim Sanchez.

Osorio is an engineer of the Municipal Engineering Office headed by Lenares.

Bendulo is the chief of the construction section of the Department of Public Works and Highways-Central Visayas (DPWH-7).

Sanchez and Alfred are the president and vice president of Socor Construction Corp., respectively.    

Mylene is the company’s treasurer while Ida is the corporate secretary. Angelica Marie and Kim were listed as “members” of the company in the complaint sheet.

The NBI-7 accused the respondents of violating Republic Act (RA) 3019 of the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act, Article 217 of the Revised Penal Code (malversation of public funds or property), and grave misconduct, which is punishable under RA 6713 or the Code of Conduct and Ethical Standards of Public Officers and Employees.

The NBI-7 said the filing of charges stemmed from the complaint of Engr. Ildebrando Almagro, a former employee of the municipal government.

Almagro  asked the NBI-7 to conduct an investigation over an alleged anomalous road concreting project on ML Quezon St. in Barangay Poblacion.

Almagro said the  P9.6-million project was awarded to Socor Construction Corp. as the winning bidder.

However, instead of the private company doing construction work, heavy equipment and manpower of the municipality were utilized to do the actual job although the company allegedly collected the proceeds of the  project, the NBI-7 said.

“After investigation, this Office is convinced that the above cited laws were violated when Mayor Cesante and his cohorts from the LGU of Dalaguete, and further tolerated/cooperated by the Officers from the DPWH, performed an actuall road repair/concreting with a contract amount of P9,650,000.00 along ML Quezon St., Poblacion, Dalaguete, Cebu,” the NBI-7 said.

The NBI-7 added that “the modus operandi of the officers of the LGU Dalaguete is not new to the NBI-CEVRO (Central Visayas Regional Office).”

The NBI-7 said that last October 2024, cases were  also filed against Cesante and other municipal officials for constructing a multi-purpose building in Maloray, Dalaguete.

The building was supposed to be constructed by the winning bidder but job-order employees of the municipality were utilized to do the actual work.

The construction of the multi-purpose building became controversial when a worker died after falling while working on the beam of the structure.

Cesante denied the allegations against him in social media posts.

Related Tags

National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) Dalaguete Cebu province
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