Mayor sues 3 for ‘forging’ her signature

CEBU, Philippines - Consolacion Mayor Teresa Alegado has filed a criminal complaint before the Cebu Provincial Prosecutor's Office against three residents of the town who allegedly forged her signature.

Alegado filed the complaint against Cynthia Lubon, engineer Jonathan Ybañez, and Abelardo "Jun" Dahoya.

Alegado said that on August 27, 2013, municipal council secretary Emilio Mangubat Jr. called her attention and informed her  that her signature on documents that approve subdivisions may have been "maliciously fabricated."

After examining the documents, Alegado said her signature was indeed falsified. The documents were those of lots purchased by Alfonso Cagang, Arnel Tumongha Jr., Rhea Carpentero, and Nenita Cuyos.

"To my surprise and bewilderment, I then noticed that the signature appearing above my name is not my signature and it was apparently forged for purposes of comparisons," Alegado's affidavit reads. 

Alegado said she then asked Philip Barnie Lampong, legal assistant, to contact the persons who purchased the subdivision lots.

Lampong was able to contact a certain Rachel Ermac who executed an affidavit, saying she bought lot 1267-G measuring about 100 square meters belonging to Spouses Angel and Rhea Tumongha, located in Bagakay, Tayud, Consolacion.

In her affidavit, Ermac said she contacted Cynthia Lubon to have the lot surveyed and she was charged P7,000. In 2012, a certain Eugene, employee of geodetic engineer Hermo Roldan, reportedly surveyed the lot.

Thereafter, she processed the payment of capital gains tax for the titling of the land with the Register of Deeds. Lubon gave her the subdivision approval.

Ermac said her mother-in-law, Eduviges Garbo, noticed that the name of the seller was erroneously stated as Arnel Tumongha instead of Angel Tumongha.

Garbo then went to the Municipal Hall to have the mistake corrected and found out that there was no Arnel or Angel Tumongha who applied for subdivision approval with the municipal council.

Likewise, Alegado said Lampong was able to contact Romel Fariolen, the brother-in-law of lot owner Nenita Cuyos, whose sister, Racquel Bantecil, purchased Cuyos' lot.

In an affidavit, Fariolen, according to Alegado, said Ybañez called her sister and informed that the subdivision plan applied for was already approved by the SB.

However, Fariolen said when he visited the SB Office to follow-up another subdivision approval applied for by her aunt, he discovered through the SB secretary and the latter's staff that the subdivision approval of Cuyos, which he got from Ybañez, was faked because the signature of Alegado was forged.

To clear the issue further, Alegado asked the Consolacion police to contact Lubon.

In her counter-affidavit, Lubon stated that she did not know the document was forged. She only reportedly found out when Ermac contacted her through text and informed her that there was no available record of approved subdivision plan at the SB Office under Tumongha's name. She said she informed Dahuya alias 'June' about it.

"June replied to me via text admitting that he did the forging of the signature of the municipal mayor Teresa Alegado for he was in a hurry to finish the said documents," Lubon stated.

Alegado said the acts of the respondents in confederating with each other caused damage to her office and to the municipality as a whole.

"The several acts of falsification committed by the respondents have unduly deprived me of my authority as mayor to approve subdivision plans. Such acts were committed with the intent to cause damage not only to my office but to the municipality as well. In fact it has already caused such damage to the public interest as the forged/falsified documents were submitted to government agencies which approved the said subdivision approvals despite my falsified signatures," the affidavit reads.

Respondents are set to answer the allegations filed against them. — /JMO (FREEMAN)