Graft cases filed against Cagayan de Oro executives

CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY — Eighteen counts of graft have been filed against Cagayan de Oro City Mayor Vicente Emano, nine members of the City Council and the city treasurer for their alleged anomalous purchase of a 63-hectare piece of land as resettlement area for the city’s urban poor.

If found guilty, Emano and company will spend at least 100 years behind bars.

However, Emano merely shrugged off the charges.

"By all means, I am ready to face these charges because there was nothing wrong in the project. Is it wrong that I am giving out lots to the urban poor to give them shelter security? Jail us if they want. The truth will be with us," he stressed during a radio interview.

The charges against Emano, Vice Mayor John Elizaga, nine city councilors and City Treasurer Zenaida Lago were based on a Commission on Audit (COA) report that said the city’s land deal was irregular and disadvantageous to the city.

In its special audit of the financial transactions, contracts and operations of the city since January 2000 to June 30, 2001, the COA said the land purchase was unfair not only to the city government but also to the previous beneficiaries who had been awarded residential lots under its housing program and who had already paid their lots.

The Emano administration, with the concurrence of the City Council, purchased the 63-hectare land from the Roa family for P160 per sqm or for a total amount of P100,800,000 before the May 2001 elections.

Parcels were then distributed to the urban poor beneficiaries for a token price of only P1 per lot under Emano’s "Piso-Piso Program."

In the same radio interview, Councilor Maryanne Enteria, who is also the acting city legal officer, defended the land transaction, saying it was legal and there was nothing anomalous in it.