CEBU, Philippines - Provincial Board member Juan Bolo offered to resign from being chairman of the committee on provincial and municipal properties as his name is already implicated in the Capitol purchase of the 24.73-hectare Balili property in barangay Tinaan, Naga.
“I’m willing to give up and relinquish my chairmanship,” Bolo told The FREEMAN yesterday as he continued to insist that the purchase of the lot, which the provincial government bought in 2008, was aboveboard.
Governor Gwendolyn Garcia, in a press conference the other day, clarified that she was not directly involved in the questionable purchase that is now hounded with controversy.
Garcia has already called for a full-blown investigation into the matter in order to identify the people involved in the deal and those who benefited from it, if there were any.
Bolo, in an interview with The FREEMAN, supports the call of the governor for an investigation and will even submit himself to the investigation if he will be called.
“Nganong dili man? I fully support the investigation. Kung unsa ang ilang pangita-on, naa man ang tanang dokumento,” Bolo said.
Controversy began surrounding the Balili property buy when some environmentalists questioned the purchase after it was reported that “some portions of the area are submerged.”
An area of 89,124 square meters is submerged in seawater and that a portion consisting an area of 14,402 square meters is a mangrove area.
Bolo clarified to The FREEMAN that he never introduced the Balilis or Lumen Durano, who acted as broker of the beach lot purchase, to Garcia.
“Ako lang klarohon nga wala gyod nagkita si Lumen Durano o si bisan kinsang mga Balili ngadto sa gobernador. It was Lumen Durano who approached me about the property and that I was the one who approached the governor about the lot,” Bolo added.
In a separate interview, PB member Victoria Corominas said that she has high regards for Bolo being a senior board member.
“I respect him being a senior member of the board. I am confident that Nong John will make the right decision for himself and for the province,” Corominas added. — Garry B. Lao/MEEV (THE FREEMAN)