Aetas clear CIAC chief of alleged anomaly in scraps worth P30 million

CLARK FREEPORT, Pampanga – Aeta leaders and their “agent” exonerated yesterday Clark International Airport Corp. president and chief executive officer Victor Jose Luciano from allegations of anomalies in the demolition of buildings for scraps worth allegedly P30 million for the benefit of the tribal folk.

Oscar Dizon, president of the Association of Tribal Chieftains (ATC) based in Bamban, Tarlac, and a dozen other Aetas were at the CIAC, belied the allegations of Oscar Rivera, president of the Bamban Aeta Tribal Association (BATA) that the latter got only P15,000 and 100 cavans of rice from the proceeds of the sale of scraps of demolished buildings under the jurisdiction of CIAC.

Josie Gomez, a scrap dealer who admitted acting as an “agent” of the Aetas in dealing with scrap buyers, said she had turned over about P9.5 million to the Aetas since the demolitions began last year.

Gomez insisted that Rivera alone got no less than P3.5-million from the sale of scraps from two demolished buildings.

She also said she turned over another P6 million to the Aetas belonging to the camp of Dizon from the sale of scraps from another nine demolished buildings. She claimed, however, that P4.5 million of this amount was spent for projects, such as water pumps, in the Aeta villages in Bamban.

Demolition

Gomez also said that she personally implemented the various projects that also included distribution of relief goods, allowances of students in a sitio, and a day care school in Sitio Batchon.

Earlier, Luciano said that despite lack of approval from the CIAC board, he approved the demolition of buildings amid a series of letters from Malacañang following up the request of Aetas, specifically Rivera and Dizon, for scrap donations. He said that he had nothing to do with the Aetas’ transactions with scrap buyers.

It is not clear, however, how many buildings were demolished. Luciano has been citing 14 buildings, but CIAC chairman Nestor Mangio said there were 17.

Candaba Mayor Jerry Pelayo, who has a usufruct contract with CIAC on some of the buildings, said that the demolished properties could even cost P192 million.

Gomez said, however, that she negotiated for only 11 buildings on behalf of the groups of Rivera and Dizon. She noted that one Catalino Saplala of Mabalacat had also negotiated for scrap donations, but she was not involved with this.

She also said that she turned over the cash in installment to the Aetas depending on their needs who came to her to get cash for various purposes such as hospitalization and school needs of their children. She said she kept a hand written accounting of these disbursements whose total is about P9.5 million.

Gomez said that she had been acting as the intermediary between Aetas and buyers of scraps who, she said, wanted to deal only with her as they found difficulty with the tribal folk.

She said she got a commission ranging from P50,000 to P100,000 for every transaction, depending on what scrap was sold.