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Ombud to include Bolo in Balili probe

THE Office of the Ombudsman-Visayas will include Provincial Board (PB) Member Juan Bolo in its investigation into the P98.9 million Capitol purchase of the Balili beach property in barangay Tinaan, Naga City.

Anti-graft investigator Roderick Biazo said they want to verify Bolo’s involvement in the deal and asked the PB's ethics committee to submit a final report on its inquiry.

The Ombudsman investigation was cited by environment groups that attended last week's meeting with Asain Development Bank (ADB) officials who were evaluating a Korean firm's $120 million loan application for new coal fired plants in Naga.

Gloria Estenzo-Ramos, a member of environmental advocacy group Global Legal Action on Climate Change or GLACC, said they voiced their opposition to the coal ash facility which the Province committed to set up in the Balili beach resort for a fee of $1 per ton of ash hauled to the site..

Earlier the PB reopened its inquiry on the property purchase by citing columns that mentioned Capitol treasurer Roy Salubre’s revelation that he was given P50,000 by an unnamed board member.

Bolo later admitted through that he gave P50,000 to Salubre for tax payments for the Balili beach property sale.

During the PB inquiries, Bolo also admitted to preparing the Deed of Sale and Memorandum of Agreement for the 25-hectare resort property, most of which remains submerged in seawater.

He closely followed up the paperwork. The check payment for P49.8 million was received by the vendor in his Capitol office.

Bolo’s staff lawyer notarize the Deed of Sale and received a P5,000 fee for it.

Two complaints are docketed with the Ombudsman-Visayas.

One is based on a request by Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña, businessman Crisologo Saavedra and environmentalist lawyers to look into the Capitol's purchase of the Balili property.

The other complaint stemmed from media reports that a large part of the land purchased was underwater with questionable titles.

In their technical report, the DENR-7 confirmed that 82 percent or 20.2 hectares out of the 24.7 hectare Balili property in Naga was timberland or public land.

An ad hoc committee created by Cebu Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia and headed by Regional Director Medardo de Lemos of the National Bureau of Investigation in Central Visayas (NBI-7) is set to finalize their findings at the end of this month.

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