On October 6, 2022, Mr. Francis Jake F. Fortaleza filed a case for violating Section 3 (g) of Republic Act No. 3019 otherwise known as the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act before the Office of the Ombudsman for Luzon against JORGE T. PALMA, MONINA LILY A. CLAVERIA, MARILISSA J. AMPUAN, GILBERT N. ALBERO, AGILEO MICHAEL R. PAUIG, VIRGILIO B. LUANSING, I and ELMER JONATHAN V. ORBITA

 

·       On November 29, 2019, the Board of Directors of Metropolitan Naga Water District (MNWD) during their regular meeting adopted and approved Resolution No. 112, series of 2019. MNWD has a special savings account at the Development Bank of the Philippines which is known as Local Water Utility Administration – Metropolitan Naga Water District Reserve Fund Special Savings Deposit and that the board of directors consented, approved and confirmed the partial redemption of the said fund to be utilized as additional fund for the full payment for the purchase of 10,762.39 square meters.

 

·       On August 9, 2019 during the regular meeting of the board adopted and approved a resolution which stated that MNWD has an existing Land Bank of the Philippines – Special Savings Deposit that will be due to mature on August 26, 2019. The management of MNWD recommended to the board for the termination of the said bank deposit with an amount of Thirty Three Million Three Hundred Ninety-Three Thousand Thirteen Pesos and 25/100 (₱33,393,013.25). Said account will be utilized as additional fund for the purchase of the lot in Balatas, Naga City.

 

·       The contract price of the lot was Fifty-Three Million Eight Hundred Eleven Thousand Nine Hundred Fifty (₱53,811,950.00) Pesos and had made an advance payment amounting to Thirty-Three Million (₱33,000,000.00).

 

·       On August 9, 2019 during the regular meeting of the board approved a resolution authorizing former Engr. Virgilio B. Luansing I, to withdraw the funds from the LWUA-MNWD Reserve Fund with the Development Bank of the Philippines-Special Savings Deposit the twenty (20%) percent of the reserve fund to be utilized as additional fund for the purchase of 10,800 square meters lot in Balatas, Naga City.

 

·       On August 16, 2019, the board of MNWD approved a resolution wherein the water district planned to construct an expansion of its office to house its various service units and facilities as such it lead to the acquisition of the lot in Balatas, Naga City. Former GM Luansing was authorized by the board to be the official representative of MNWD and has the authority to transact and sign for and in behalf of MNWD.

 

·       On September 6, 2019, during the committee meeting of the board of MNWD approved a resolution which mentioned that the Planning, Design and Construction Division (PDCD) has a total available budget in the amount of Fifty Four Million Four Hundred Thirty Thousand Five Hundred Twenty Pesos and 60/100 (₱54,430,520.60) from several projects.

 

·       Sometime in September 2019, Mr. Robert Obiedo (owner of the property) and MNWD executed a Deed of Conditional Sale. In the said deed it was stated that the full payment for the purchase shall be paid within two (2) months after the execution of the deed.

 

·       MNWD made its payment thru their existing LWUA-MNWD Reserve Fund Special Saving Deposit with the Development Bank of the Philippines with maturity date last December 19, 2019 with an amount of Eleven Million Six Hundred Thousand Pesos (₱11,600,000.00) and form the DBP Special Savings Deposit with maturity date last December 12, 2019 with an amount of Nine Million Two Hundred Eleven Thousand Nine Hundred Fifty Pesos (₱9,211,950.00).

 

·       But Sometime in 2018, GM Luansing requested Engr. Elmer Jonathan V. Orbita to appraise the lot under the name of Roberto Obiedo with TCT No. 55738 (55,760 sqm) but the subject for appraisal is only 10,762.39 square meters.

 

·       On November 5, 2018, Engr. Orbita wrote a letter to GM Luansing appraising the lot with an appraised value of Fifty-Four Million Pesos (₱54,000,000.00).

 

·       With the said appraisal the MNWD managements and its board decided to purchase the lot with the purpose of its office expansion, water academy and other support facilities. The purchase price was set to Five Thousand Pesos (₱5,000.00) per square meters or a total amount of Fifty-Three Million Eight Hundred Eleven Thousand and Nine Hundred Fifty Pesos (₱53,811,950.00).

 

·       On December 20, 2019, Roberto Obiedo and the MNWD executed a Deed of Absolute Sale in relation to the purchase of the lot in Balatas, Naga City.

 

·       Prior of the purchase of the lot by MNWD, the City Government of Naga on August 6, 2019 purchased a portion (886 square meters) of the lot of Roberto Obiedo in Balatas, Naga City which is the same lot that was purchased by MNWD.

 

·       The purchase price was Two Thousand Pesos (₱2,000.00) per square meters or a total amount of One Million Seven Hundred Seventy-Two Thousand Pesos (₱1,772,000.00).

 

·       The lot bought by the City Government of Naga to Roberto Obiedo which is a portion of the lot bought by MNWD was along the road while the lot bought by MNWD was an interior lot.

 

·       On June 20, 2022 the Commission on Audit issued an Audit Observation Memorandum which mentioned the overpriced in the purchase of lot in Balatas, Naga City. COA stated that excessiveness in the contract cost were noted based on the BIR Zonal Valuation at the time of purchase, thus the purchase cost of the two lots were deemed not advantageous to the government. 

 

·       As can be gleaned from the table per Bureau of Internal Revenue District Office No. 65 Zonal Valuation with effectivity date of February 25, 2009, the applicable valuation per square meters of the subject lot, classified as Residential Regular located at Balatas, Naga City is One Thousand Five Hundred Pesos (₱1,500.00) Indeed, the actual zonal valuation applicable in the said transaction is ₱1,500.00 per sq. m since the Certificate Authorizing Registration (CAR) showed that the Zonal/BIR value of the said property (Land) was only ₱16,143,000.00 or ₱1,500.00 per sq. m, thus the selling price of ₱53,811,950.00 was deemed excessive, having a variance of ₱37,668,950.00 or 70 percent. Considering that the applicable BIR Zonal Valuation was effective since February 25, 2009 and the transaction was done in September 2019, more than 10 years thereafter, there may have been developments in the area and the zonal value for CY 2009 may not be comparable with the current zonal value of the lot. Hence, for comparison, the incumbent Audit Team deemed it worthy to consider the recent revision of BIR zonal value as of February 14, 2020, applicable to the subject lot which is ₱4,000.00 per sq.m. After giving due consideration to the current zonal valuation, despite the actual date of purchase of the land located in Barangay Balatas, the purchase price of ₱53,811,950.00 is still more than ₱10,763,950.00 or 20 per cent of the current zonal value of the land acquired which amounted to ₱43,048,000.00 only, thus the total payments made by the WD to the seller/landowner was deemed excessive.