Radaza files raps vs. King brothers

Lapu-Lapu City Mayor Arturo Radaza is not taking the accusations against him sitting down after all.

After more than two weeks of silence, Radaza made his move against brothers Richard and Rafael King and filed a complaint yesterday against them for violation of the Wire Tapping Law.

Radaza was the subject of an expose by the King brothers, who released to media a Digital Video Disc (DVD) recording showing a contractor telling the brothers about alleged corruption by the mayor.

In the video recording, Nelson Yu, a contractor, was seen telling The King brothers that the mayor demanded from him three percent from more than half a billion worth of projects in the city.

The mayor was accompanied by his wife Paz and assisted by lawyer Richard Sison when he filed the complaint before the Lapu-Lapu City Prosecutor's Office.

He also filed a separate complaint for grave threats against the brothers for allegedly releasing the video recording in retaliation to his order for the demolition of illegal structures in barangays Agus and Gun-ob, Lapu-Lapu City.

In his complaint, Radaza accused the brothers of violating Republic Act No. 4200 "An Act to Prohibit and Penalize Wire Tapping and other Related Violations of the Privacy of Communications and other purposes".

Radaza cited part of Section 1 of Republic Act No. 4200 saying that: "It shall also be unlawful for any person, be he a participant or not in the act or acts penalized in the next preceding sentence, to knowingly possess any tape record, wire record, disc record, or any other such record, or copies thereof, of any communication or spoken word secured either before or after the effective date of this Act in the manner prohibited by this law; or to replay the same for any other person or persons; or to communicate the contents thereof, ether verbally or in writing."

According to Mayor Radaza, the conference and jest of the discussion by private persons which took place in one of the conference rooms of Richard and Rafael King was private in character.

He added that it was surreptitiously and illegally monitored by a secret camera that captured and recorded in a video disc without the consent of Nelson Yu.

Yu is the contractor of different projects in Lapu-Lapu City.

The mayor claimed that Yu admitted in a newspaper report that he was framed up.

Radaza further said that Richard King publicly announced the contents of the DVD tape when he called a press conference last February 10 at Club Ultima in Cebu City.

Radaza recalled that sometime in February 2006, Mark Steven Weigel, son of the late Lapu-Lapu City Mayor Ernest Weigel, Jr. came to see him at his residence in barangay Mactan and gave him a copy of a video disc.

He said Weigel told him that the video was intended for him. The son of the former mayor also allegedly told Radaza that he should desist from pursuing his plans to demolish the buildings constructed by the Kings.

The buildngs owned by the Kings in barangay Gun-ob reportedly lacked the necessary permits from the city government.

The video showed the King brothers talking to Yu inside a conference room.

Radaza professed his innocence.

"I am innocent of the alleged three percent commission of the new public market project in Lapu-Lapu City. I have neither asked money from the winning contractor nor did I place the city in a disadvantageous contract with Nelson Yu. This is a fabrication and was contrived mainly to prevent me from demolishing the illegal structures in Lapu-Lapu City," Radaza said in his sworn statement

Mayor Radaza claims that the video tape was illegally taken by the King brothers.

He added that he and his wife viewed the said DVD at their house in barangay Mactan, the day it was given to him by Weigel.

Weigel, on the other hand, said that he is personally close to Richard King, who owns the Crown Regency Hotel in Lapu-Lapu City.

He recalled that sometime last year, during the Chinese New Year celebration, King invited him for a dinner at the Crown Regency Hotel for him to the new dimsum restaurant. He accepted the invitation.

Weigel said that during their meeting, their discussion centered in on the video footage that King took from his security camera at his office in Davao City.

He said that Richard King ordered him to show the footage to Mayor Radaza so that the mayor will desist from pursuing the case against his buildings, which Richard constructed adjacent to the Crown Regency Hotel.

He said that King informed him that the land where these buildings are constructed is claimed by the city government.

He said that King told him if Radaza will insist or pursue with the case in court, he (Richard) will expose the video footage in public.

Weigel said that King handed to him a DVD and said in Cebuano "Ikaw nay bahala ana Mark, pahibaw-a ko ug unsay tubag ni Mayor"

Weigel recalled that King called him sometime in September 2006 and inquired about the developments. He said that the mayor was very busy.

Two weeks later, Rchard King called him again and followed up on the answer of Radaza.

"He now appears to be impatient. He told me that if there is no answer by the mayor, he will proceed in exposing the said DVD in public," Weigel said in his affidavit.

Based on the DVD footage, the King brothers filed graft and corruption charges before the Office of the Visayas Ombudsman.

They also filed a civil suit against the mayor, who ordered the demolition of their property in barangay Agus. The brothers have asked for P50 million damages.