Tabuelan execs face corruption raps

CEBU, Philippines — Tabuelan Mayor Raul Gerona and Vice Mayor Rex Casiano Gerona have been charged with graft and corruption before the Office of the Ombudsman in Makati City on March 24, 2022.

The mayor dismissed the complaint as politically motivated and nothing new to him since the issue always comes out every election season.

The complaint stemmed from the construction of a private wharf and an alleged illegal reclamation project in Barangay Tabunok, Tabuelan.

Complainant Junel Genita, in his four-page complaint-affidavit, asked the anti-graft office for a fact-finding investigation on a Sangguniang Bayan resolution endorsing the application of Raul on a Special Agreement for Protected Areas (SAPA) dated July 9, 2014.

According to Genita, Raul, who was then the vice mayor, participated in the deliberation of the resolution which was a requirement for the construction of the private wharf and reclamation project.

His brother, Rex, who was then the mayor, also approved the resolution.

In addition to the criminal violation, the complainant said that the resolution was seen as “unlawful and irregular” as it allowed the then vice mayor Raul “to construct a private wharf/port in Barangay Tabunok, Tabuelan, Cebu although there is an existing wharf/port already in the same area 200-300 meters distance which was constructed as early as 2013.

The complainant also said that the resolution was not approved by the Provincial Government of Cebu, but only by the Municipal Government of Tabuelan.

The complainant added that the area where the private wharf/port of Raul, within Tañon Strait Protected Seascape per Presidential Proclamation No. 1234 dated May 27, 1998, is not covered by any exemption for its use by a private individual.

“There was an illegal reclamation done by Raul T. Gerona undertaken within the protected area,” part of the complaint reads.

Genita also implicated other public officials who participated in the approval of the resolution, the official who issued the Environmental Compliance Certificate (ECC), the official who issued a Permit to Construct Private Commercial Port, and those who signed the memorandum of agreement.

Raul said the complainant used to be his bodyguard but is now supporting his political rival.

He said that the private port was his own business and what he spent was coming from his own personal money and not from the government’s coffer.

“Nangasuya lang na sila gyud. Balik balik ra gyud na ilang reklamo. Unya inig human sa election, mawala ra pud. Na ‘S’ ra gyud na sila. Kung nasuya sila maghimo sad sila og ilang private port,” the mayor told The Freeman.

He added that there was nothing illegal or anomalous about in reclamation project.

“Hagbay ra na nahuman ang reclamation project. Three years ago pa operational na na. Pamulitika lang gyud ning ilaha,” he added.

Both Raul and Rex are now seeking reelection on May 9, 2022 elections. —GMR (FREEMAN)