Asturias mayor faces graft plaint

CEBU, Philippines - Asturias Mayor Alan Adlawan is facing graft and corruption complaints before the Visayas Ombudsman for allegedly declaring a project 65 percent complete in 2011 but the actual implementation was only started last week.

The subject of the complaint filed by former councilor Mark Paulus Noel in May is the construction of the oval running track and bleachers project. Also indicted in the case is the municipal engineer of the town.

Noel said the respondents lied when they claimed that the oval running track project was 65 percent complete.

But Adlawan explained that the 65 percent refers to the delivery of the construction materials.

However, the construction was not immediately undertaken due to some technical problems in the area where the bleachers have to be erected.

He said the bleachers will be sitting on a reclaimed area.  Being a civil engineer, he decided to defer the construction until they are able to improve the foundation.

Adlawan also said that the remaining 35 percent will cover the labor.

But he stressed that the facility cannot be completed yet with its P1.670 million appropriation since the project is estimated to cost around P5 million.

Adlawan said that the P1 million was already spent for fuel of heavy equipment doing the ground work to level the area, which is situated in a mountainous area in Barangay Langub.

The remaining amount were used to purchase materials but some were stolen according to Adlawan.

"Mangutana ko sa vice mayor, kinsa may nangawat sa mga kabilya?" Adlawan asked.

Though they were unopposed in the May 13 election under One Cebu Party, Adlawan and Vice Mayor Joel Dumdum became estranged a month before the start of the campaign.

This prompted Dumdum to shift alliance to the Liberal Party.

After his oath taking yesterday before incoming governor Hilario Davide III, Dumdum asked the media to visit the said project.

Workers were seen filing hollow blocks for the bleachers while some dump trucks transported bags of cement to the area. — (FREEMAN)