Bacolod Mayor Evelio Leonardia yesterday said the recent case filed against the city and Land Bank of the Philippines officials and the contractor for the construction of the Bacolod City Government Center is meant to "terrorize and paralyze" the bank officials and prevent them from releasing the loan.

A retired policeman had filed charges for grave abuse of authority and grave misconduct and violation of Section 3(e) and/or Section 3 (h) of R.A. 3019 were filed against the Mayor, Vice Mayor, nine Councilors, Hilmarc's Construction Corp., Land Bank of the Philippines officials, Bids and Awards chairman Goldwyn Nifras and Roger Balo as Technical Working Group team leader.

The case filed by Victor Eduardo before the Office of the Ombudsman Friday who said the contract of construction is highly anomalous, illegal, has wantonly violated the laws, is overpriced in favor of HCC.

An earlier case now pending for resolution before the Regional Trial Court had also been filed by another group against the city officials, the BAC and HCC.

Leonardia said the trend shows clearly that there is an orchestrated scheme to block the project.

He said they held an executive-legislative caucus yesterday to come up with a solution because if the project is not pursued, the contractor might file for liquidated damages against the city as provided in the contract and in the law.

Leonardia said this means that if the project is not pursued, the city will end up with nothing and be made to pay whatever HCC has spent at this point in time, like the materials worth P30 million which they have already delivered, the equipment they may have purchased or rented, plus the labor cost, which could run up to P40 million by now.

"For me this case is like a "déjà vu," he said, because the last time he was mayor, his political opponents charged him before the Ombudsman for embarking on an innovative project - the St. Rafael Development Corp. joint venture agreement with the city and called it "grossly disadvantageous."

Leonardia said the case was used against him also during the campaign period and had hurt his political career since it was not resolved until after the election.

"But when the Ombudsman eventually decided on the case, it even called the project, 'grossly advantageous' to the city! And the Ombudsman even praised us for being innovative, and for having earned for the city between P35-P40 million," he said.

That is why, Leonardia said, he believes that this is also a case wherein they will be vindicated in the end. "Our political opponents are obviously after the political damage that this may inflict upon us during the campaign period," he said.

He also recalled that the first time he was mayor, many cases were filed against him but these were all dismissed, he added. Meanwhile, City Legal Officer Allan Zamora said what LBP used for the contract, which it had entered into with the city, are standard forms and were not prepared by the party securing a loan.*CGS

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