Graft raps filed vs suspended Minglanilla mayor over quarry rehab plan

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MANILA, Philippines — The Office of the Ombudsman has filed graft charges against suspended Minglanilla, Cebu Mayor Rajiv Enad and several other local officials over the alleged malicious and baseless denial of an environmental rehabilitation plan.

In a statement on Monday, June 22, the Ombudsman said it filed charges before the Regional Trial Court in Naga, Cebu against Enad, Vice Mayor Elanito Peña, 10 Sangguniang Bayan members and Municipal Administrator Junrie Casquejo Bragat.

The anti-graft body said it found probable cause to charge the officials with violation of Section 3(e) of Republic Act No. 3019, or the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act.

The graft charges stemmed from the local government's repeated refusal to approve a rehabilitation plan submitted by private firms Jomara Konstruct Corp. and Jomara Agri Foods and Supply Corp. for an area in Sitio Napo, Barangay Guindarohan.

Ground cracks, denied plan

The rehabilitation plan was prepared after the Mines and Geosciences Bureau detected ground cracks above a quarry site in December 2021, prompting the Environmental Management Bureau to issue a cease-and-desist order.

The Ombudsman said the firms designed the plan to address the hazards and received technical backing and recommendations from the bureaus as well as the Provincial Environment and Natural Resources Office.

Despite this, the Ombudsman said the Minglanilla local government consistently blocked the plan.

The municipal council later issued resolutions denying both the rehabilitation plan and the firms' applications for a special waste disposal permit.

"The Ombudsman determined that the respondents acted with 'evident bad faith, manifest partiality, or gross inexcusable negligence when they disapproved the complainants' Rehabilitation Plan despite DENR's partial lifting of the CDO for its implementation,'" the Ombudsman said.

The Ombudsman said the local officials deliberately ignored findings and recommendations from the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, local environmental office, MGB and the Sangguniang Barangay of Guindarohan.

By blocking the plan, the Ombudsman said the respondents gave unwarranted benefit, advantage or preference to the firms' corporate competitors.

Conspiracy alleged

The Ombudsman also said the respondents' actions showed conspiracy when Sangguniang Bayan members passed Resolution No. 271, series of 2022, denying the rehabilitation plan, and Enad approved it.

The complaint against the acting Sangguniang Bayan secretary was dismissed for lack of merit.

Enad, Peña and the 10 municipal councilors are also under preventive suspension. They are already serving a one-year preventive suspension imposed by the Ombudsman in February 2026.