Resort owner files charges vs mayor
SAN ANTONIO, Zambales: A beach resort owner in this coastal town has filed a complaint before the Office of the Ombudsman against Mayor Edzel Lonzanida for allegedly refusing to issue a business permit for the operation of the resort.
In her complaint-affidavit, Jemmielyn Tayag, owner of a beach resort located in Sitio Talisayen, Barangay Pundaquit, said Lonzanida was “biased, acted in bad faith, and neglected his duties as the chief executive” when he unjustly refused to issue her a business permit for 2023 and 2024.
Tayag said the mayor’s refusal to issue the permit stemmed from a complaint filed by a certain Apolinario Mendoza against her.
Mendoza claimed he holds the Transfer Certificates of Title (TCT) and tax declarations for the land property of the beach resort.
Tayag said she opened the beach resort in 2017 and was issued a permit to operate from 2017 to 2022 but when Lonzanida assumed office last year, the city government rejected her application for a business permit renewal.
Tayag clarified that the TCT and tax declarations in the possession of Mendoza were all issued by Lonzanida’s father, former mayor Romeo Lonzanida, and had been declared by the Supreme Court as falsified documents.
The former mayor was convicted of graft and 10 counts of falsification of public documents in 2003 and sentenced to up to 80 years in prison.
Tayag said the incumbent mayor is fully aware of the high court’s ruling.
She also said Lonzanida is currently holding a tax declaration document for a portion of the disputed land which may have been falsified, too.
Tayag said the incumbent mayor’s act constituted a crime because it caused her and the government “undue injury.”
Tayag also accused Lonzanida of giving a private party “unwarranted benefits, advantages, or preferences in the discharge of the official ...[functions].”
The beach owner said the mayor must be charged criminally and administratively for these violations.
In a telephone interview, San Antonio Municipal Administrator Jovy Arlantico said, “We have heard about it and it has also been reported on other radio stations, but we have not received any complaints from the Office of the Ombudsman, so we still do not know if these allegations are true.”
“We see posts about it on social media, but the official complaint received by the office of the mayor has not yet been received, so we cannot respond yet. We would like to release an official statement once we have received it, and we will call you in as soon as possible,” Arlantico said.