Namria head denies spending for land survey at Ecija camp

Senate Minority Leader Teofisto Guingona raised questions yesterday about the source of a supposed P10,000 "cash advance" which a team of the National Mapping Resource and Information Authority (Namria) used to conduct a survey of a controversial 4,686-hectare land at the Fort Magsaysay military reservation in Nueva Ecija.

This came as Namria finance officials, in yesterday's hearing of the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee, denied they provided the money to the survey team who subsequently came out with a report that the parcel of land was located outside the military reservation.

Salvador Bonnevie, Namria head executive assistant, earlier had testified that he approved the release of the P10,000 cash advance for the expenses of the three-man survey team three years ago.

But Namria Administrator Isidro Fajardo denied that his agency shouldered the surveyors' expenses, saying there are no records at the agency's finance department that will support Bonnevie's claim.

Guingona theorized that the money could have come from the private claimant of the controversial piece of land.

A Namria investigating panel, headed by deputy administrator Napoleon Palo, earlier had recommended the 90-day suspension of Bonnevie for his alleged misrepresentation in a series of meetings with the claimant.

The meetings, called by Solicitor General Ricardo Galvez, paved the way for the forging of a compromise agreement between the government and the claimant.

The Senate investigation was an offshoot of Guingona's exposé on the controversial land deal.