Cagayan lawmaker, pa face plunder raps

TUGUEGARAO CITY, Philippines – Plunder charges have been filed against a Cagayan lawmaker and his father, who is a former mayor of this city, in connection with an alleged overpriced city hall building.

Rep. Randolph Ting of the province’s third district said they have yet to receive a copy of the complaint filed against him and his father, former mayor Delfin Ting.

Ting denied any irregularities in the construction of the city hall building, which was built during his father’s term.

 “These are all lies. This is politically motivated. We are ready to answer and dispute the allegations,” Ting said referring to a complaint filed with the Office of the Ombudsman last Oct. 3.

The complainants – led by Ronald Guzman, head of the Transparency and Accountability Network-Cagayan Valley – alleged that the former mayor ordered the construction of the city hall building without authorization from the city council.

Aside from Guzman, the other complainants were engineer Mario Liban and lawyers Jonathan Baligod and Victor Casauay.

The complainants alleged the Tings awarded the contract without public bidding. They said the lack of approved scopes and program for the project allegedly increased the cost of the construction from P25 million to P270 million.

The complaint said the city government under the former mayor acquired an additional P57-million fund from the local economic development fund to continue the project.

It said another P188 million was approved, which was reportedly sourced from funds intended for medicine and health services and the retained earnings from the city’s general fund.

Aside from the Tings, also charged were former city engineer Emilio Matanguihan and Jocelyn Hsi, owner of the Cagayan Washington General Merchandise. Both allegedly procured the supplies for the city hall project.