BUSINESSMAN Crisologo Saavedra filed another graft complaint against Rep. Gwendolyn Garcia before the Ombudsman-Visayas last Monday, accusing the former governor of cover-up in relation to the controversial Balili deal.
“(Garcia) entered into a series of contracts with the Korean Electric Power Co. (Kepco) to cover up the firm’s violation of environmental laws by using her position as governor to give questionable favors,” he said in the complaint.
Saavedra alleged in his complaint that the former governor tried to “cover up” for Kepco when her administration entered into a contract with the company for use of the Balili estate in Naga City as a dumping site for its coal ash residue.
If the contract pushed through, he said the Cebu provincial government could not have earned anything from the deal, while endangering the health and safety of residents living nearby the property.
He also questioned why Garcia’s administration did not require the power firm to set up a landfill before building its 200-megawatt coal-fired power plant in Naga City four years ago.
The businessman, who owns Papa’s Resto Grill in Cebu City, sent letters to Cebu Gov. Hilario Davide III and Vice Gov. Agnes Magpale and urged them to conduct a probe on the complaint.
In order to comply with the legal requirements, the Garcia administration agreed to Kepco’s request to use a portion of the Balili property in barangay Tinaan, Naga as permanent storage of its coal ash.
Garcia said the province would earn P45 million as revenue from Kepco for dumping coal ash in the site for 25 years.
In 2011, the Regional Trial Court Branch 28 granted Kepco’s request to transport its coal ash to a material recovery and recycling facility owned by the FDR Integrated Resource and Recovery Management Inc. in barangay Pangdan, City of Naga.
Saavedra was one of three complainants in the Balili lot case and has filed several cases against the Garcia administration, including a pending complaint about the Cebu International Convention Center (CICC) before the Sandiganbayan.
Garcia faces two counts of graft and one case of technical malversation of funds in relation to the Balili estate that was purchased by the province for P98.9 million.