PRA execs face plunder, graft raps over land deal anomaly

MANILA, Philippines – Plunder and graft charges have been filed against incumbent and former officials of the Philippine Reclamation Authority (PRA), formerly the Public Estates Authority, for alleged involvement in a P41-billion land deal anomaly in 1988.

In separate complaints filed with the Office of the Ombudsman, the complainants accused the PRA officials of alleged conspiracy with property developer Manila Bay Development Corp. (MBDC) in pulling off the “biggest scam of (state) asset disposition.”

Good governance advocates belonging to six non-government organizations (NGOs) claimed that succeeding officials of the PRA should have rescinded the anomalous contract and sold or leased the seaside estate at the correct market value.

They said MBDC failed to develop the area into a commercial center within five years’ time, as required in the 1988 Deed of Sale.

The respondents are PRA chairman Roberto Muldong; general manager Peter Anthony Abaya; board directors Virgilio Ambion, Manuel Medina, Edilberto de Jesus, Reyaldo Robles and Rene Enrique Silos; former general manager Eduardo Zialcita along with the chairman and board directors of PRA in 1988.

Also charged with plunder and graft raps are the incumbent and former MBDC officials and board directors led by the company’s president George Chua, who signed the Deed of Absolute Sale with Zialcita in 1988.

The complainants include the Sagip Buhay, Cluster Inc., Keepers of Heart Organization, Samar Women’s Group, Tinio Women’s Group from Leyte-Samar and the Silcas Women’s Welfare of Biñan City.

They alleged that the respondents defrauded the government of billions of pesos in potential revenues, as the prime property along Roxas Boulevard in Parañaque City was sold 27 years ago for a mere P1,100 per square meter when the prevailing market price back then was P40,000 per sqm.

They urged the government to seize the MBDC property based on Section 9 of the Plunder Law, which empowers the state to recover unlawfully acquired public properties.

The new complaints brought to eight the number of plunder and graft cases filed against PRA and MBDC officials.