Pangasinan governor faces graft raps over R13-M oval track

Pangasinan Governor Amado Espino III has been slapped with a graft complaint before the Office of the Ombudsman due to the allegedly overpriced construction of an oval track and event staging area for the Alaminos City National High School.

In a three-page complaint, Michelle Anne Celino urges the Ombudsman to charge Espino for violating Section 3(e) of R.A. 3019, otherwise known as the AntiGraft and Corrupt Practices Act. The law faults local officials for “causing any injury to any party, including the government, or giving any private party unwarranted benefits, advantage or preference in the discharge of his official functions.”

The construction was intended for the 2018 Region 1 Athletic Association (R1AA) Meet, and reportedly cost around R13 million. This amount covered the backfilling of soil, asphalting of the oval, and the construction of two bleachers and a stage.

In the complaint, Celino said the amount claimed by Espino for the project was “grossly overpriced as it was allegedly “not commensurate to the work that was undertaken.”

The construction of the two bleachers and the stage cost R5 million, but Celino said the cost estimate made by the City Engineer of the Province of Pangasinan only amounted to R1,241,006.81.

The P8 million, on the other hand, went to the backfilling of soil and asphalting of the oval track. But Celino stressed in her complaint that the amount spent was “too excessive and surely caused undue injury and great prejudice to the government.”