Dalaguete mayor, several town execs face graft case at Ombudsman 

CEBU CITY, Philippines — The mayor of Dalaguete, several government officials of the town and private contractors were charged before the Office of the Ombudsman-Visayas for violation of Republic Act No. 3019 or the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act, malversation of public funds or property, and grave misconduct.

The National Bureau of Investigation-Central Visayas (NBI-7) asked the Ombudsman to investigate Dalaguete Mayor Ronald Allan Cesante, Municipal Engineer Expedizitas Lenares, James Osorio from the Municipal Engineering Office (MEO), Chief of Construction section of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH)-7 2nd Engineering District Sergio Bendulo Jr. and Junior project engineer of DPWH-7 2nd Engineering District Juan Paulo Castillo.

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The Ombudsman was also asked to investigate Socor Construction President Fortunato Sanchez Jr., Socor Construction Vice President Alfredo Lua, Socor Construction Treasurer Mylene Sanchez, Socor Construction Secretary Ida Sanchez and Angelica Marie Lua and Kim Sanchez, members of Socor Construction.

The filing of charges stemmed from the complaint of Engineer Ildebrando Almagro, a former employee of the municipal government.

Cesante, for his part and in previous social media posts, vehemently denied the allegations against him.

CDN Digital also contacted the mayor in his FB page to get his side of this issue but he had not yet replied.

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As for Almagro, he had asked the NBI-7 to conduct an investigation over an alleged anomalous road concreting project on ML Quezon Street in Barangay Poblacion, Dalaguete.

The project worth P9.6 million was awarded to Socor Construction Corp. as the winning bidder.

However, instead of the private company doing the construction works, heavy equipment and manpower of the municipality were utilized to do the actual work although the company allegedly collected the proceeds of the construction project.

“After investigation, this office is convinced that the above cited laws were violated when Mayor Cesante and his cohorts from the LGU of Dalaguete, and further tolerated/cooperated by the Officers from the DPWH, performed an actual road repair/concreting with a contract amount of PHP9,650,000.00 along ML Quezon Street, Poblacion, Dalaguete, Cebu,” the NBI-7 said.

The NBI-7 added that the modus operandi of the officers of the LGU Dalaguete, was not new to them.

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Last October 2024, the NBI-7 said that cases were  also filed against Cesante and other municipal officials for constructing a multi-purpose building in Maloray, Dalaguete.

The building was supposed to be constructed by the winning bidder but job-order employees of the municipality were utilized to do the actual work.

The construction of the multi-purpose building became controversial when a worker died after falling while working on the beam of the structure.