By Mortz C. Ortigoza
BAYAMBANG – For misrepresenting this town as the owner of
the Bayambang Central School in a swap deal with a land and the edifices owned
by a Chinese trader, the mayor and other town officials here will find
themselves in jail someday.
Abono Party-list Chairman Rosendo So told Aksyon Radyo last Thursday about the
criminal and administrative cases filed by BCS’s Parents Teachers Association
President Filipina Alcantara against Mayor Ricardo Camacho and other officials
of this town at the Ombudsman who entered into a grossly disadvantageous contract
that prejudice the government.
Last November 17, Alcantara charged criminally Camacho of
“willfully and feloniously” entering into a land-swap deal with businessman
Willy Chua—a transaction that prompted 2000 pupils to relocate to the latter’s
property.
She argued in her complaint affidavit that the mayor binds
the government in a manifestly and grossly prejudicial transaction.
She also sued administratively Camacho of gross negligence
when he “transferred the school with
undue haste and without notice or consultation with theDepEd”.
So said one of the grounds against Camacho et al was they
negotiated a real property swap owned by the national government and not of the
local government unit (LGU) here he represented.
“Iyong issue na iyan
malaking issue iyan. I-iswap mo iyong lupa na hindi sa inyo. Talagang
makukulong ka niyan pag iyan ang ginawa mo,” he stressed.
He cited that when he went recently to report these
malfeasances in Congress he was provided with records that showed the LGU here
is not the title owner of the BCS.
He said the deal is lopsided against the government
where the 2.5 hectares of Chua’s property has a zonal valuation (ZV)
of P435 per square meter (PSM) or P8.9
million only versus the 3.1 hectares BCU with a ZV of P4,600 PSM or P142 million according to the
Bureau of Internal Revenue in Calasiao, Pangasinan.
The Abono Party –list chair said the other liability of
Camacho and others in the Ombudsman case was when they entered a swap contract
with Chua by excluding the Department of Education’s representative in the
province in the negotiation.
“Kasi ang nangyari,
nagbigay ang SB (Sangunniang Bayan) ng authority to negotiate with DepEd and
Wilson Chua. Ang nangyari iniwan iyong Dep Ed kasi hindi pumayag ang Dep Ed.
Negotiate niya si Wilson Chua, kasabwat si Wilson Chua kasi bawal iyon. Malaki
ang problema ni mayor doon parang ni act niya na siya ang DepEd”.
He said Camacho instead sued the Dep Ed officials with
mandamus at the Regional Trial Court Branch 56 in San Carlos City when they
became recalcitrant to his plan for the students and teachers to take temporary
shelter at the Bical Buildings of Chua after the American era Gabaldo Type
building was gutted by fire in a mysterious way in June 2012.
After the expiration of the 20 days temporary restraining
order issued by RTC Judge Hermogenes Fernandez, he issued indefinite mandatory injunction
that prompted the Dep Officials led by Superintendent Ruby Torio to appeal the
case at the Court of Appeals.
Camacho argued the general welfare’s clause at the court
that the pupils there would be endangered by dengue and flood.
But former Pangasinan Congressman Mark Cojuangco disagreed
with Camacho. He said that as far as his knowledge is concerned this is the
only public school in the country that the students left in mass because of the
fear of dengue and flood.
So and Cojuangco donated P400 thousand and P1
million, respectively, for the immediate repair of the BCS where doors,
ceilings, iron grills, black boards, chairs, and other parts of the building
were vandalized and pillaged with impunity by thieves.
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