Mayor Alex Rommel Romano was ordered to answer separate criminal and administrative charges for three alleged offenses that include supposed withdrawal of P3,399,550 for two parcels of land that was bought only for P120,000; release of P2,230,980.17 for unimplemented road project; and entering into contract with a waste management firm without proper authorization from the sangguniang bayan.
The complaints were separately filed in November 2017 Vice Mayor Robert Ganayo, Romano’s running-mate in the 2016 local elections.
The orders to Romano to file counter-affidavit, received by concerned parties here successively last week, were dated Feb 2 for OMB-L–17-0668 and OMB-L-A-17-0725 for the alleged malversation of public funds and grave misconduct, gross dishonesty, conduct prejudicial to the best interest of the service over the alleged anomalous purchase of land; Feb. 5, for OMB-L-A-17-0715 and OMB-L-C-17-0660 for violation of Republic Act 3019 over contract with Metro Clark Waste Management Corp. (MCWMC) and Feb. 6 for OMB-L-C-17-0655 and OMBL- A-17-0708 over the payment of allegedly unimplemented road project.
Romano has one Winifredo Gonzales, a resident of Barangay Poblacion South here, MCWMC, and FC Martinez Construction as co-respondents for the malversation over purchase of land, violation of RA 3019 and malversation over payment for unimplemented road project, respectively. The cases stemmed from the purchase of two parcels of lot in Barangay San Antonio from Gonzales purportedly to be used as government center extension in 2017.
Records showed Romano disbursed a total of P3,399,550 as evidenced by obligation slips dated May 19, 2017 and July 28, 2017 in an Oct. 6 letter of Mariano Panahon municipal accountant.
It turned out, however, that based on the deed of absolute sale archived at the Register of Deeds the municipal government only paid a total of P120,000. The purchase is “apparently, manifestly and grossly disadvantageous to the municipality of Lupao….The documents speak for itself,” Ganayo said in his complaint.
For the second charge, Romano and the MCWMC allegedly entered into a memorandum of agreement for the disposal of residual solid wastes of the town without a resolution approved by the town council. In fact, according to the complaint, Romano already approved the released P24,960 initial payment to MCWMC as per obligation slip dated June 5, 2017.
Under the agreement made on Feb. 1, 2017, MCWMC shall dispose the residual municipal wastes into its landfill at the Clark Integrated Waste Management Facility at Sub-Zone D., Clark Special Economic Zone for a tipping fee of P780 per cubic meter.
For the third charge, malversation with prayer for issuance of a preventive suspension, Ganayo alleged that the town council had approved the concreting of Castañeda St. under the 23 percent Development Fund of 2016 with a total budget of P2,230,980.17.
But despite full payment based on obligation slips dated Nov. 14 and Nov. 28, 2016, the street “is still not concretized up to the present.”
