3 city hall employees who charged ex-mayor face perjury raps

PUERTO PRINCESA CITY, Palawan — City Prosecutor Joy Olga Rabang has slapped three city hall employees with perjury charges for allegedly filing a spurious plunder and malversation complaint against former mayor, Edward Hagedorn.

The three who face perjury raps are Rodrigo Saucelo, Wilfredo Rama, and Antonio Lagrada.

In April, this year, they lodged before the Office of the Ombudsman (OMB) a complaint that Hagedorn illegally obtained 4 million in public funds “in spite of the absence of official receipts, vouchers, or other documents” that authorize payment of the funds in question.

In their complaint, Saucelo, Rama, and Lagrada claimed that Hagedorn attempted a cover up the alleged anomaly by purportedly purchasing ghost electric vehicles “that have not been delivered to the city government up to the present time.”

But Rabang slammed the three for wilfully making allegations before the OMB while supposedly knowing full well that the claims were false.