Tayabas graft raps

Tayabas City’s former mayor Faustino Silang, ex-vice mayor Luzviminda Cuadra, and excouncilors Venerando Rea, Rey Abadilla, Marfeo Jacela, Abelardo Abrigo, Macario Reyes, and Romeo Cayanan have been charged with two counts of graft before the Sandiganbayan Third Division for hiring a counsel who is not qualified under the law. The case stems from their hiring one Atty. Jose Augusto J. Salvacion to represent the city as its private counsel in cases filed in court in August, 2013. It is a violation of the Local Government Code, which mandates that their counsel should be a city legal officer not a private lawyer. (Czarina Nicole O. Ong)