Lamitan vice mayor cleared of graft

COTABATO CITY – The Court of Appeals has cleared the vice mayor of Lamitan City in Basilan in a graft case involving an allegedly anomalous construction project when he was mayor.

In a ruling issued on April 26, the appellate court in Cagayan de Oro City declared invalid the six-month suspension imposed by the Office of the Ombudsman against Vice Mayor Roderic Furigay.

Quirino Esguerra, counsel for Furigay, said the ruling ordered the government to pay the vice mayor his salary and other benefits due him for the duration of the suspension.

Furigay’s camp distributed copies of the CA ruling to journalists on Saturday.

The case against the vice mayor stemmed from a service procurement transaction that he entered into when he was mayor of Lamitan in 2012.

The ombudsman questioned the disbursement to private entities of P548,256 for the construction of a boat dock and P175,000 for an agricultural protection project.

Esguerra said both transactions were aboveboard and Furigay was not a signatory to the documents covering the transactions.

Local leaders in Lamitan City believe the graft case against Furigay was politically motivated.

Furigay was mayor for three consecutive terms before he was elected vice mayor during the 2013 elections.

Furigay, now on his second term as vice mayor, has expressed his intention to seek reelection next year.