By Dominique Gabriel G. Bañaga

Negros Occidental Governor Alfredo G. Marañon, Jr., along with 10 provincial government officials, faces graft charges over a controversial 2010 land purchase in Murcia.
In an e-mail sent to Watchmen Daily Journal yesterday by Moises Padilla Mayor Magdaleno Peña, the respondents, aside from Marañon, include Provincial Administrator Enrique Pinongan, Provincial Treasurer Nilda Generoso, Acting Provincial Accountant Lucille Chavez-Pines, Acting Provincial Treasurer Lilia Sandy, Acting Provincial Account Caroline Isuga, Provincial Assessor Merlita Caelian, and Provincial Engineer Leoncio Garrucho, Jr.
Other individuals named in the complaint were Albert Arguelles Jo, George Arguelles, and Gloria Arguelles.
Based on the complaint filed by Atty. Roger Reyes on June 14, 2017, before the Office of the Deputy Ombudsman for the Visayas, Marañon was accused of illegally purchasing three agricultural lots in Barangay Sta. Rosa, Murcia owned by the Arguelles family for P41,266,150 without clearance from the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR).
Reyes alleged, on October 27, 2010, the Negros Occidental Provincial Board passed Resolution No. 0854, which approved the proposed deeds of sale for the said lots.
The governor executed the deeds of sale and acquired the three lots, while Generoso released the full payment.
Later, the provincial government, through Mapa, constructed P10 million worth of improvements in the lots.
Reyes claims the purchases are illegal and null and void without clearance from the DAR.
He pointed out, Marañon sent a letter to Provincial Agrarian Reform Officer (PARO) Enrique Paredes to request a Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP) exemption for one of the lots, priced at P13.9 million.
Reyes also noted, no public bidding that took place in accordance to RA 9184, or the Government Procurement Reform Act.
He characterized the actions by the government as “evident of bad faith” when he entered a contract of sale without any guarantee ownership would be transferred to the government.
Reyes added, Pinongan, Generoso, Pines, Sandy, and Isuga acted with “gross inexcusable negligence” in disbursing P41,266,150 and proceeding to sign disbursement vouchers without legal basis.
He also accused the Arguelles family of having benefited from the transaction, noting, the disbursement of funding could not have been made without their signatures on the checks.
“When the subjects signed the vouchers, they made it appear that disbursements were valid when, in fact, they were not,” Reyes explained. “Since each contributed to attain the end goal, it can be concluded that their acts, taken collectively, satisfactorily prove the existence of conspiracy.”
The complaint was received by Alfred Yann Oguis, Ombudsman in the Visayas Field Investigation Office OIC./WDJ