Mayor charged with graft for selling SUV to municipal gov’t at inflated price

The Office of the Ombudsman has upheld the indictment for graft of Mayor Wilfredo Balais and Vice Mayor Virgilio Go of Labason, Zamboanga del Norte, for the allegedly anomalous purchase of a second-hand sport utility vehicle which the mayor formerly owned and which the municipal government bought for almost twice the price in 2011.

Aside from the two local officials, also charged was Eduardo Ayunting, who allegedly helped facilitate the illegal transaction.

Complaints against 13 other local officials, including 10 municipal councilors, were dropped for lack of probable cause.

The antigraft body said Ayunting had bought a Nissan Patrol from Balais for P500,000 in November 2010 as shown by a deed of sale that they both signed.

Just two months later, the municipal government purchased the same vehicle from Ayunting for P960,000, with the vice mayor signing the deed of sale in behalf of the local government unit.

However, members of the town council canceled the deal for being “disadvantageous to the government.”

The Ombudsman said the purchase was eventually voided, and Ayunting returned the money to the municipal treasurer.

In affirming its finding of probable cause to indict the respondents, the Ombudsman said the “excessive purchase price of the subject vehicle caused undue injury” to Labason town and that there was “apparent conspiracy” among them to hoodwink the government.

It also cited the “apparent intent to defraud the government by selling to it equipment, in this case, a motor vehicle, at a high price when the same vehicle was earlier obtained at a much lesser price.” -Marlon Ramos