A REGULAR session of the San Simon Municipal Council on Tuesday, March 3, became a venue for Loreto Santos to expose the alleged irregularities during the administration of former mayor now Vice Mayor Leonora Wong.
Santos, who identified himself as chief of staff of incumbent Mayor Abundio Punsalan, Jr., was reportedly invited by the local council to shed light on the allegations made by Wong against the present administration during a session on February 26.
But instead of defending Punsalan's administration, Santos made a presentation on the alleged irregularities that transpired during the nine-year term of Wong.
Santos was initially not allowed to speak by committee on rules chairman councilor Beda Pineda, questioning the former's authority to speak in behalf of Punsalan.
But he was later given the floor after Councilor Dading Santos moved for a unanimous consent, which garnered full support from his colleagues.
Following the turn of events, Wong decided to relinquish her post as presiding officer for the rest of the session, and was replaced by first Councilor Keko Almario.
Allegations
Among the accusations made by Santos during his presentation was the alleged acquisition of land by Wong, wherein part of the money used was from the local government's coffers.
"In May 2011, former mayor Wong discovered a 590,371 square-meter property. In July 2011, they acquired the said property for P180 per square meter, and part of the money she used to purchase that land was from the local government," Santos said.
Santos provided a copy of the supposed Philippine National Bank check number 0000021088 with account name "Municipality of San Simon" dated July 11, 2011 amounting to P9 million and issued to Metrobank-Makati City.
"It was reflected as an investment of the Municipality of San Simon but there was no deed of sale signed in favor of the LGU. No title was delivered to the LGU," he said.
"Deed of Absolute Sale for the property was between Metrobank and Leonora C. Wong, married to Lewis G. Wong, and a certain Rodolfo L. See, married to Leticia P. See," he added.
VoxPop Pampanga was provided a copy of the alleged Deed of Absolute Sale, Santos was referring to.
Santos also reported that a Manager's Check No. 37100033537 amounting to P9 million was remitted to the local government in February 19, 2012 and was reflected in the municipality's cashbook as return of investment.
In mid-2014, Santos stated that the said property was allegedly sold to a private company in the amount of P100 million, as noted in the Deed of Absolute sale presented and acquired by VoxPop Pampanga.
"The Deed of Absolute Sale is still from Metrobank to Global Aseana Land Development Corporation. Something is wrong. It is confusing because Mrs. Leonora Wong already purchased the land but the seller was Metrobank again. The signatures of the bank officials on the Deed of Absolute Sale were forged," he said.
Santos also alleged that the camp of Wong declared the property to the Bureau of Internal Revenue as an agricultural land.
"Somebody prepared a tax declaration which is fake, wherein they declared the land as an agricultural property so that they can evade taxes," he said.
Moreover, Santos disclosed the alleged irregularities in the construction of the Local Government Center which was started during Wong's term.
"The project was posted on PhilGEPS in mid-2018 but they declared failure of bidding. It was later on awarded to IDI Construction but the real contractor and implementor was former mayor Wong," he said.
Santos said Punsalan is planning to launch a deeper investigation to check if the P39 million reportedly spent for the construction of the Local Government Center, which remains unfinished to date, is not excessive.
The whole session, including the presentation of Santos, was livestreamed in various Facebook pages, including on "Serbisyung Tutu Para King Balen," the official Facebook page of Punsalan's administration.
With all the accusations thrown by Santos to Wong, he confirmed that Punsalan will be filing charges against the former mayor before the Ombudsman.
"The mayor will be filing appropriate charges to formalize these cases and make them accountable for everything," he said.
