{"id":133885,"date":"2017-11-24T05:03:58","date_gmt":"2017-11-24T10:03:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=133885"},"modified":"2017-11-24T05:03:58","modified_gmt":"2017-11-24T10:03:58","slug":"abad-singson-may-face-raps-over-fake-road-right-of-way-claims","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2017\/11\/24\/abad-singson-may-face-raps-over-fake-road-right-of-way-claims\/","title":{"rendered":"Abad, Singson may face raps over fake road right-of-way claims"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"He<\/a>
He said former Budget Secretary Abad who apparently approved the release of payment for illegal RROW claims as requested by Singson. (PCOO Photo)<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

MANILA\u2014<\/strong>\u00a0Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre on Friday said two former Cabinet members during the Aquino administration may face criminal liability for their alleged involvement in fake road right-of-way (RROW) claims for government projects amounting to PHP8.7 billion in General Santos City.<\/p>\n

Aguirre said they based on the testimony of a witness now under the custody of the Department of Justice (DOJ), former Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) Secretary Rogelio Singson and former Budget Secretary Florencio Abad approved and requested the payment of fake RROW.<\/p>\n

\u201cBased on their signatures in the documents submitted to the National Bureau of Investigation (NB)I and on the sinumpaang salaysay of our witness, some high ranking officials of the previous administration may have potential liabilities like former DPWH Secretary Rogelio Singson who apparently approved and requested the release of payment of fake RROW claims,\u201d Aguirre told reporters during the press conference held at DOJ.<\/p>\n

Singson and Abad \u201cmay face potential criminal liability\u201d for the scam that has defrauded government of at least PHP8.7-billion, covering more than 300 folders, based on the testimony of a witness \u201cwho is personally involved\u201d in the syndicate, Aguirre said.<\/p>\n

He said former Budget Secretary Abad who apparently approved the release of payment for illegal RROW claims as requested by Singson.<\/p>\n

\u201cBased on initial reports submitted to me by the NBI, this criminal syndicate purportedly submitted fake titles in the name of non-existent persons to allow them to claim from the DPWH the just compensation from the expropriation of land which will be supposedly occupied by government projects,\u201d he explained.<\/p>\n

According to Aguirre the modus operandi of this syndicate is that it claims for \u2018just compensation\u2019 of road right of way which are intended for rightful owners who were affected by national highway construction at General Santos City.<\/p>\n

The witness narrated how members of the syndicate would submit fake titles in the name of non-existent persons or not real landowners.<\/p>\n

The syndicate would then allegedly secure payment using fake land titles. The scheme reportedly began in 2009.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have information that one claim for \u201cjust compensation\u201d amounts to PHP29 million. From 2009 when the syndicate started to operate, the members of this syndicate were able to process more than 300 folders containing fake road-right-of-way amounting to more or less PHP8.7 billion,\u201d Aguirre explained.<\/p>\n

Aguirre said a witness gave the names of those allegedly involved namely: Wilma Mamburam, Col. Chino Mamburan, Merceditas Dumlao and Nelson Ti, who is the group\u2019s financier, a close friend former President Aquino.<\/p>\n

\u201cSome of the persons named by our witness as being involved is a Wilma Mamburam, Col. Chino Mamburan, Merceditas Dumlao and Nelson Ti. Our witness further revealed that Mr. Nelso Ti, the financier of the group is a close relative of Domingo Lee, Philippine Envoy to China, and is supposedly close to former President Benigno Aquino III,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was also informed that for the syndicate to accomplish these apparently criminal acts, several public officials from the Department of Public Works and Highways, Bureau of Internal Revenue, the City Assessor\u2019s Office of General Santos, the Registry of Deeds, the Commission on Audit and the Regional Trial Courts have been identified by the said witness as having participated in the processing, approval and eventual release of payments to cover these dubious claims,\u201d Aguirre added.<\/p>\n

Aguirre refused to provide details about the witness who is now under Witness Protection Program but will be presented to the media next week.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have ordered the provisional admission of the witness to our Witness Protection Program for his protection and security,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Aguirre also ordered the NBI to investigate the scam, and look into the possibility the same modus is happening in other parts of the country, as he called on \u201call other persons who have personal knowledge of this scam to come forward and to communicate what they know to help us further solidify the case that we will file.<\/p>\n

When sought for comments, Abad denied the allegations.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe accusation is baseless and therefore not true. I and the DBM were never part of the negotiations for that transaction. The DPWH will be in the best position to shed light on the issue. If I am not mistaken, that case is already pending with the Ombudsman,\u201d Abad said in a text message to reporters.<\/p>\n

Singson, on the other hand, refused to give a statement.<\/p>\n

\u201cSorry, I will have to look at the documents so I can comment,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

MANILA\u2014\u00a0Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre on Friday said two former Cabinet members during the Aquino administration may face criminal liability for …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":132683,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[95],"tags":[6185,12006,34916],"class_list":["post-133885","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news-ph","tag-abad","tag-justice-secretary-vitaliano-aguirre","tag-singson-may-face-raps-over-fake-road-right-of-way-claims","mauthors-christopher-lloyd-caliwan","mauthors-philippine-news-agency"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/133885","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/33"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=133885"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/133885\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/132683"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=133885"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=133885"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=133885"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}