ADVERTISEMENT
Manila Bulletin devider Philippines devider National devider Ombudsman orders dismissal of Albay Gov. Edcel Greco Lagman on 'jueteng payola'

Ombudsman orders dismissal of Albay Gov. Edcel Greco Lagman on 'jueteng payola'

Published Apr 29, 2025 08:30 am

The Office of the Ombudsman (OMB) has ordered the dismissal of Albay Gov. Edcel Greco Alexandre "Grex" B. Lagman from the service after he was found guilty of administrative charges for his involvement in jueteng, an illegal numbers game.

Office of the Ombudsman.png

The OMB's decision stated: "Wherefore, Edcel Greco Alexandre Burce Lagman is found guilty of Grave Misconduct and is meted the penalty of dismissal from the service and all its accessory penalties. The charges for Dishonesty and Neglect of Duty are dismissed for insufficiency of evidence."

The charge against Lagman arose from the complaint filed by Alwin M. Nimo, known as "Kap," who was actively participating in jueteng as its financier or "bangkero."

Their reported partnership began in 2019 when Lagman, who was at that time the vice governor and presiding officer of the Sangguniang Panlalawigan of Albay, allegedly sought Nimo's help in securing contact with the financier of jueteng operating in their locality.

They reportedly agreed that the Sangguniang Panlalawigan would "look the other way and... refrain from using their investigative powers from inquiring into the known proliferation of jueteng in Albay."

In exchange, Lagman would reportedly receive a regular payola of P60,000 while Nimo would serve as a bagman.

The agreement came to a halt when Lagman suggested that the payment be made through bank deposit to his bank account. When Noel Rosal assumed the post of governor of Albay from July to December 2022, Nimo said that illegal gambling in Albay stopped.

However, Rosal's incumbency was pre-terminated and Lagman became governor in his stead. When that happened, Nimo said that the jueteng operation resumed. Instead of rehiring him, Nimo became upset when Lagman purportedly started spreading lies against him and telling people that he had been stealing his payola.

Aggrieved, Nimo then filed the complaint before the Ombudsman sometime in 2024 and accused Lagman of receiving around P8,100,000 from August 2019 to June 2022 as payola from jueteng operations.

The Ombudsman said in its decision that there was "deception" on the part of Lagman which was "committed in relation to his act of receiving payola from jueteng operators."

"There is failure to pinpoint which among respondent's official tasks that he failed to perform as Vice Governor and Presiding Officer of the Sangguniang Panlalawigan. The alleged neglected task of enacting laws to suppress illegal gambling in the province wholly pertains to the officially defined function of the Sangguniang Panlalawigan as a collegial body and not by respondent alone," the Ombudsman ruled.

Related Tags

edcel greco lagman Edcel Lagman Ombudsman Samuel Martires Payola Ombudsman edcel lagman jr samuel martires Jueteng
ADVERTISEMENT
.most-popular .layout-ratio{ padding-bottom: 79.13%; } @media (min-width: 768px) and (max-width: 1024px) { .widget-title { font-size: 15px !important; } }

{{ articles_filter_1561_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}
.most-popular .layout-ratio{ padding-bottom: 79.13%; } @media (min-width: 768px) and (max-width: 1024px) { .widget-title { font-size: 15px !important; } }

{{ articles_filter_1562_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}
.most-popular .layout-ratio{ padding-bottom: 79.13%; } @media (min-width: 768px) and (max-width: 1024px) { .widget-title { font-size: 15px !important; } }

{{ articles_filter_1563_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}

{{ articles_filter_1564_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}
.mb-article-details { position: relative; } .mb-article-details .article-body-preview, .mb-article-details .article-body-summary{ font-size: 17px; line-height: 30px; font-family: "Libre Caslon Text", serif; color: #000; } .mb-article-details .article-body-preview iframe , .mb-article-details .article-body-summary iframe{ width: 100%; margin: auto; } .read-more-background { background: linear-gradient(180deg, color(display-p3 1.000 1.000 1.000 / 0) 13.75%, color(display-p3 1.000 1.000 1.000 / 0.8) 30.79%, color(display-p3 1.000 1.000 1.000) 72.5%); position: absolute; height: 200px; width: 100%; bottom: 0; display: flex; justify-content: center; align-items: center; padding: 0; } .read-more-background a{ color: #000; } .read-more-btn { padding: 17px 45px; font-family: Inter; font-weight: 700; font-size: 18px; line-height: 16px; text-align: center; vertical-align: middle; border: 1px solid black; background-color: white; } .hidden { display: none; }
function initializeAllSwipers() { // Get all hidden inputs with cms_article_id document.querySelectorAll('[id^="cms_article_id_"]').forEach(function (input) { const cmsArticleId = input.value; const articleSelector = '#article-' + cmsArticleId + ' .body_images'; const swiperElement = document.querySelector(articleSelector); if (swiperElement && !swiperElement.classList.contains('swiper-initialized')) { new Swiper(articleSelector, { loop: true, pagination: false, navigation: { nextEl: '#article-' + cmsArticleId + ' .swiper-button-next', prevEl: '#article-' + cmsArticleId + ' .swiper-button-prev', }, }); } }); } setTimeout(initializeAllSwipers, 3000); const intersectionObserver = new IntersectionObserver( (entries) => { entries.forEach((entry) => { if (entry.isIntersecting) { const newUrl = entry.target.getAttribute("data-url"); if (newUrl) { history.pushState(null, null, newUrl); let article = entry.target; // Extract metadata const author = article.querySelector('.author-section').textContent.replace('By', '').trim(); const section = article.querySelector('.section-info ').textContent.replace(' ', ' '); const title = article.querySelector('.article-title h1').textContent; // Parse URL for Chartbeat path format const parsedUrl = new URL(newUrl, window.location.origin); const cleanUrl = parsedUrl.host + parsedUrl.pathname; // Update Chartbeat configuration if (typeof window._sf_async_config !== 'undefined') { window._sf_async_config.path = cleanUrl; window._sf_async_config.sections = section; window._sf_async_config.authors = author; } // Track virtual page view with Chartbeat if (typeof pSUPERFLY !== 'undefined' && typeof pSUPERFLY.virtualPage === 'function') { try { pSUPERFLY.virtualPage({ path: cleanUrl, title: title, sections: section, authors: author }); } catch (error) { console.error('ping error', error); } } // Optional: Update document title if (title && title !== document.title) { document.title = title; } } } }); }, { threshold: 0.1 } ); function showArticleBody(button) { const article = button.closest("article"); const summary = article.querySelector(".article-body-summary"); const body = article.querySelector(".article-body-preview"); const readMoreSection = article.querySelector(".read-more-background"); // Hide summary and read-more section summary.style.display = "none"; readMoreSection.style.display = "none"; // Show the full article body body.classList.remove("hidden"); } document.addEventListener("DOMContentLoaded", () => { let loadCount = 0; // Track how many times articles are loaded const offset = [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10]; // Offset values const currentUrl = window.location.pathname.substring(1); let isLoading = false; // Prevent multiple calls if (!currentUrl) { console.log("Current URL is invalid."); return; } const sentinel = document.getElementById("load-more-sentinel"); if (!sentinel) { console.log("Sentinel element not found."); return; } function isSentinelVisible() { const rect = sentinel.getBoundingClientRect(); return ( rect.top < window.innerHeight && rect.bottom >= 0 ); } function onScroll() { if (isLoading) return; if (isSentinelVisible()) { if (loadCount >= offset.length) { console.log("Maximum load attempts reached."); window.removeEventListener("scroll", onScroll); return; } isLoading = true; const currentOffset = offset[loadCount]; window.loadMoreItems().then(() => { let article = document.querySelector('#widget_1690 > div:nth-last-of-type(2) article'); intersectionObserver.observe(article) loadCount++; }).catch(error => { console.error("Error loading more items:", error); }).finally(() => { isLoading = false; }); } } window.addEventListener("scroll", onScroll); });
Join Our Newsletters

Sign up by email to receive news.

© 2025 Manila Bulletin The Nation's Leading Newspaper. All Rights Reserved.