Group laments Town Officials’ ‘unsatisfactory’ answers in Congress

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January 18, 2025

4–6 minutes

An advocacy group has expressed disgust over what it described as ‘unsatisfactory’ answers of two local officials in a Batangas town during a recent congressional hearing on public accounts.

The People’s Coalition Against Crime and Corruption Group (PCACCG) said the explanations provided by Mataas na Kahoy Mayor Janet and husband vice mayor Jay Ilagan in the House committee hearing left more questions than answers.

“The couple failed to answer many questions satisfactorily,” said Alabata, who attended House Resolution 2102 committee hearing on public accounts chaired by Representative Joseph Paduano over the alleged misuse of public funds and irregularities in the couple’s municipal operations.

Alabata said that the Ilagans failed to implement projects in a span of four years, reason why he said he filed complaints against the couple in the Ombudsman.

“Projects supposedly up for implementations in 2021, 2022, 2023 and 2024 were never carried out,” averred Alabata.

“Mayor Ilagan herself admitted that only seven of their 11 projects were fully completed. Their explanations to the committee that their practices are also being done by other LGUs are not acceptable also.”

Alabata filed the complaints of PCACCG against the Ilagans last December at the Office of the Ombudsman, accusing them of alleged violation of anti-graft and corrupt practices act, gross inexcusable negligence, grave misconduct, and violation in their government procurement reform act.

In his complaint at the Ombudsman, Alabata cited various irregularities in the town’s operations, including the cash deficit the town incurred in 2021 amounting to more than P5 million which he said affected the full settlement of the municipality’s current liabilities totaling P47,141,799.11.

The complainant also stated the respondents’ disbursements totaling P7,771,859.43 in response to the Corona virus disease contained deficiencies and inconsistencies.

The PCACCG also accused Mayor Ilagan allegedly erred in purchasing and acquiring a lot because of the lack of certification from the Department of Agriculture (DAR) since the land it acquired was an agricultural land before its conversation.

Even the municipal assessor, Alabata said, admitted the lack of the required certifications before the acquisition of land.

According to Alabata, Rep. Paduano admonished the Commission on Audit (COA) for non-conduct of audit of the Mataas na Kahoy council even amid the resolution issued by the congress.

He also said that even Rep. Romeo Momo also recommended to COA to immediately hold a special fraud audit to set up the investigation since there was already a case filed.

Alabata had also been invited in the congressional hearing by Committee on Public Accounts of the House of Representatives in aid of legislation to uphold transparency and accountability and to assess if amendments to procurement and auditing laws are needed to prevent future abuses.

The mandate of the committee is also to investigate and deliberate matters directly and principally relating to the examination and scrutiny of audit reports on the performance of all government agencies to determine their adherence to or compliance with the law.

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