Ex-Bataan gov, 5 others face plunder raps

BALANGA CITY- Bataan Gov. Enrique Garcia Jr. filed charges of plunder, violation of the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act and malversation of public funds against former governor Leonardo Roman and five others with the Office of the Ombudsman for allegedly pocketing P143 million of a development loan from the Pag-IBIG Fund.

Besides Roman, Garcia named former executive assistant Romeo Mendiola, former provincial administrator Renato Bagay, provincial accountant Numeriano Medina, former provincial board member Gregorio Uy Jr. and engineer-contractor Jimmy Bustamante in the 17-page complaint.

The case arose after a structural engineer, whom the provincial government commissioned to evaluate the 205 three- and two-bedroom units at the Bataan Peninsula Heights housing project in the upland village of Gugo, Samal town, discovered that only three of the housing units were structurally sound.

Garcia said engineer Anna May Tayo, civil engineering dean of the Bataan Heroes’ College, discovered that the housing units were constructed without foundations and columns, and that the steel bars used were substandard.

Tayo recommended that the structures be abandoned, saying no amount of repair could possibly be undertaken.

Garcia said it would be more advantageous to the developer to just demolish the 202 housing units than to correct their structural defects.

"It is cheaper to build a new house than attempting to repair entirely poorly made and highly anomalous structures," he added.