Panglao lot owners protest vs. “broker”
SOME lot owners who sold their piece of land to government to give way to the Panglao International Airport have protested against a land “broker” with the Provincial Legal Office (PLO) for not having received their dues from land proceeds.
The families affected by the lot acquisition for the planned construction of the airport cried for help from the Capitol and accused a certain Rogelio “Dodong” Villarias for not paying in full their dues, some of which are proceeds from other properties and development paid by the national government.
The allegation is denied by Villarias.
These families affected by the Villarias brokering include Aurea Guioguio, Ildefonso Bunao, Josephine Dompor, Isidro Loremia, Epifania Hilot and Epifania Guiritan, who are residents of barangay Lourdes traversed by the airport project.
Some of them (complainants) claimed they are still awaiting for the payments or whatever left of the so-called 20% “retention” fund from the total proceeds after the payments of land deal.
They admitted, however, that it was Villarias, who was given a Special Power of Attorney (SPA) for the processing of the documents considering that the latter was then an employee of the provincial assessor’s office.
It was learned that Villarias is an incumbent municipal councilor of Bien-Unido, Bohol and is now gunning for mayor of said town in the May 10, 2010 elections.
His other address is Lindaville subdivision, Tagbilaran City.
He is reportedly still working with an insurance company with an office in the city.
Some residents questioned why Villarias, who is a government official, is allowed to deal in government transactions, like the processing of lot acquisition for the airport.
Is this not a conflict of interest, they said.
The family of Ildefonso Bunao said that his lot was acquired by the government and already paid based on Disbursement Voucher No. 401 086504 5 that has already been released and paid for by the Provincial Treasurer’s Office.
The said voucher with the payee Rogelio Villarias amounted to P341,460.00 for payments of his lot with an area of 5,691 squar meters.
Until now, he was not yet paid fully of the land sale proceeds, including the proceeds of improvements and a well, amounting to P56,678.00 and other improvement worth P14,555.00, said Bunao in interview.
He alleged that Villarias kept him in the dark because he always took “cash advances” thinking that the land has not been paid yet.
He also said that he was not also paid yet of the “retention” or whatever left, if any, after deductions in the total amount of P68,292.06.
The other families affected are similarly situated, in the payment of the “retention” fund.
Villarias, in a cell phone interview, denied any hitches of the aforesaid transactions.
He said that as far as he is concerned all the transactions he was handling, including payments to Bunao family and others are already settled. He said that all the lots he was dealing with were “sold” to him for the purpose of helping fast track the processing of the documents. He added that for humanitarian reasons he helped facilitate the said transactions with the government in acquiring the lots so that the airport project could be started right away.
He said he had all the documents to support his monetary claims with the government in connection with the land acquisition for the airport.
Former PLO head and now the provincial administrator Atty. Handel Lagunay, who attended to the complaints of the residents affected, vowed to assist them and look into the “mess.” He met with the complainants last week and heeded their call for an inquiry. (RVO)
Tags: barangay Lourdes, Panglao, Villarias
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