The Office of the Ombudsman has filed graft charges in a Cebu court against top suspended officials of Minglanilla municipality following the controversial rejection of an environmental rehabilitation plan for Barangay Guindarohan.
Facing indictments for violating Section 3(e) of the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act (RA 3019) before the Naga City Regional Trial Court are Minglanilla Mayor Rajiv Enad, Vice Mayor Elanito Peña, Municipal Administrator Junrie Casquejo Bragat, and 10 members of the local council.
The councilors named in the case are Oscar Cañares Dela Calzada Jr., Samuel Gordsin Adlawan Jr., Jesus Denoyo Velez, Jeremias Llanos Cañares, Jaime Secretarya Caumeran, Jenifer Dejan Lariosa, Proserfina Laput Fajutrao, Jenny Zafra Young, Petronilo Entera Traya, and Rick Ryan Zafra. Alongside the criminal charges, the anti-graft body has placed all respondents under a one-year preventive suspension.
The legal battle began after ground fissures were detected at a quarry site in Sitio Napo back in December 2021. Following a geohazard assessment, environmental authorities issued a cease-and-desist order (CDO). In response, Jomara Konstruct Corporation and Jomara Agri Foods and Supply Corporation drafted a rehabilitation proposal.
Although the plan secured strong technical backing from the Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB), Environmental Management Bureau (EMB), and the Provincial Environment and Natural Resources Office (PENRO), the Minglanilla government repeatedly blocked it. The municipal council eventually passed resolutions formally denying the rehab plan and blocking the firms’ waste disposal permits.
According to the anti-graft body, the local officials acted with “evident bad faith, manifest partiality, or gross inexcusable negligence when they disapproved the complainants’ rehabilitation plan despite DENR’s partial lifting of the CDO for its implementation.”
“Not only did the respondents reject the recommendations of the DENR, they also deliberately ignored the findings and recommendations of the PENRO, MGB and the Sangguniang Barangay of Guindarohan, Minglanilla, Cebu,” the ruling stated.
The Ombudsman determined that by tossing out the EMB’s recommendations, the officials gave an “unwarranted benefit, advantage or preference” to corporate rivals.
The investigation concluded that the leadership’s unified actions pointed to a conspiracy, particularly when the council passed the blocking resolution and Mayor Enad gave it his executive stamp of approval.
Conversely, the Ombudsman cleared the acting council secretary, dismissing the complaint against them for lack of merit.