Kokoy repairs ‘White House’ in Petilla’s hometown

TACLOBAN CITY — Benjamin "Kokoy" Romualdez is hell-bent on capturing Leyte’s governorship. Proof of this: his newly refurbished two-story house in Baybay town which, incidentally, is the birthplace of re-electionist Gov. Remedios Petilla.

The "White House," as residents of Baybay, Leyte’s biggest town with at least 150,000 registered voters, call it, stands on a 300-square-meter corner lot at the back of the Leyte Cathedral, one of the oldest in the province.

It has two rooms and made of stone and old wood with its original post-war roofing still intact — a typical rural bahay-bakasyunan (vacation house). Its repair and repainting were completed just weeks ago.

Kokoy, 70, was Leyte governor for more than two decades — from 1964 to 1986 — while at the same time, serving as ambassador plenipotentiary to the United States. After the 1986 EDSA Revolution, he, along with the rest of the Marcoses and Romualdezes, fled the country, and returned about two years ago when Joseph Estrada, a Marcos ally, assumed the presidency.

During the Romualdezes’ absence, the Baybay property was taken care of by the family of Petilla’s brother, former board member Jose "Ete" Loreto whom Kokoy has hand-picked to be his running mate.

With 21 Romualdez-owned properties in Leyte and Samar held in sequestration, based on a June 21, 1988 certification by the Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG), speculations are rife that the "White House" may have been part of Kokoy’s "ill-gotten wealth."

But city planning officer Vicente Solis, a member of Kokoy’s inner circle, belied the rumors. "I doubt it. It is an old house he bought while he was still the governor (from former public works regional director Coloma in 1968)," he said. Coloma reportedly acquired the Baybay property in the late 1950s.

Solis, the provincial auditor during Kokoy’s gubernatorial stint, said the "White House" looks "very ordinary" that it may not even qualify as "ill-gotten."

"It is not expensive as other houses in urban areas," he added.

But PCGG assistant regional director Salvador de la Paz said, "(That) may be an undeclared property." He said PCGG documents show the "White House" was not in the list of alleged ill-gotten wealth of the "family, kin, cronies and nominees" of the late strongman Ferdinand Marcos.

Among Kokoy’s alleged properties still held in sequestration are the "Nipa Hut" on Jones Avenue, the Price Mansion on J. Romualdez street, the dyMM and dyBR radio stations, PR TV 12 and the Tacloban Port Area Warehouse.