Bohol mayor and board member face corruption charges

[pioneer]

Written by Kit Bagaipo
Bohol Chronicle

Ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez has ordered the filing of graft charges against an incumbent provincial board member and a former mayor at the Sandiganbayan.

Gutierrez approved the ruling of the Ombudsman-Visayas Graft Investigation and Prosecution Office which found prima facie evidence against Board Member Josil Trabajo and former Carmen Mayor Pedro Budiongan in violation of the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act.

The case stemmed from a complaint filed by Valeriano Nadala Sr., a resident of Poblacion Norte, Carmen, accusing Budiongan and Trabajo, then the vice mayor, of conniving to implement a road improvement project "with their common purpose of having a financial interest in the project."

On March 2003, Budiongan and Trabajo, as municipal mayor and vice mayor, approved road improvement projects in barangays Vallehermoso-Montehermoso and Luan-La Salvacion Roads in Carmen.

The respondents were also the suppliers of the project, by way of selling 501 loads of limestone (anapog).

Budiongan and Trabajo were also found by the Ombudsman to have "actually intervened or took part in their official capacity" in the approval, implementation and release of funds for the project.

Trabajo, the ruling cited, was identified as the supplier while Budiongan owned the trucks that hauled the limestone.

Both former Carmen officials "clearly showed dominant use of influence" by securing the contract and approving its payments from the municipal government's funds, the Ombudsman resolution stated.

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