One day you’re in charge of the city and some years later that very same city is accusing you of some “costly crimes.”
“The Muntinlupa City government has filed a graft and corruption complaint in the Office of the Ombudsman against former City Mayor Aldrin San Pedro for what it described as an unauthorized, overpriced right of way road contract he signed in 2012 with the owner of a private lot in Barangay Putatan,” reports Jaymee T. Gamil in the Philippine Daily Inquirer.
The report explained that San Pedro “was being accused of buying at an allegedly bloated price of PHP6.4 million a 931-square-meter portion of the Marmeto Compound without the authorization of both the city council and City Assessor’s Office.”
According to incumbent Mayor Jaime Fresnedi, the purchased property’s fair market value was actually just PHP1.1 million. For the record, Fresnedi had been mayor of Muntinlupa for a number of terms years ago (July 1998 to July 2007).
San Pedro has denied the allegations against him and revealed that the purchase of the land included some penalties. The report explained: “San Pedro claimed that the city government, during Fresnedi’s previous terms, incurred around PHP5 million to PHP6 million in penalties” because it pushed through with the road project but ignored for years certain conditions set in its contract with the Marmetos.” San Pedro added that “the delays had a daily penalty of PHP1,500.”
This case is bound to get even more complicated.
