Ombudsman indicts Cebu town mayor, 12 others for graft

June 23, 2026 | 12:00am

MANILA, Philippines — The Office of the Ombudsman has filed graft charges against suspended Mayor Rajiv Enad and Vice Mayor Elanito Peña of Minglanilla, Cebu as well as the town’s administrator and 10 council members for deliberately blocking a quarry rehabilitation plan despite clearances from national environmental agencies.

Enad, Peña and the 10 councilors are currently serving a one-year preventive suspension ordered by the ombudsman in February over the same controversy.

The indictment, filed before the Regional Trial Court in neighboring Naga City, charges the 13 officials with violating Section 3(e) of the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act.

The case stems from the local government’s repeated refusal to approve a safety and rehabilitation plan submitted by Jomara Konstruct Corp. and Jomara Agri Foods and Supply Corp. for an area in Sitio Napo, Barangay Guindarohan.

After ground cracks were discovered atop a quarry in December 2021, the Environmental Management Bureau issued a cease-and-desist order.

In response to the CDO, the companies drafted a rehabilitation plan that secured technical backing from the EMB, Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB) and the Provincial Environment and Natural Resources Office or PENRO.

Despite the expert endorsements and the partial lifting of the CDO by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) to allow the repairs, the Minglanilla municipal council passed resolutions rejecting the plan and the companies’ applications for a special waste disposal permit.

Enad subsequently approved the denial.

The ombudsman ruled that the officials 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.”

“Not only did the respondents reject the recommendations of the DENR, they also deliberately ignored the findings and recommendations of the PENRO, MGB and the Sangguniang Barangay of Guindarohan, Minglanilla, Cebu,” the ombudsman stated in its resolution.

The anti-graft body noted that the officials provided an unwarranted benefit, advantage or preference to competitors by ignoring the EMB’s directives, and emphasized that the respondents’ concerted acts “establish the existence of conspiracy.”

Indicted together with Enad and Peña were municipal administrator Junrie Bragat and town council members Oscar dela Calzada Jr., Samuel Adlawan Jr., Jesus Velez, Jeremias Cañares, Jaime Caumeran, Jenifer Lariosa, Proserfina Fajutrao, Jenny Young, Petronilo Traya and Rick Zafra.

A separate complaint against the acting town council secretary was dismissed for lack of merit.