By MAE SINGUAY
BACOLOD City — Mayor Monico Puentevella and Bacolod Traffic Authority Office (BTAO) head Reynaldo Ebreo were facing charges for violation of the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act.
They were accused of demanding payments for body number stickers from public utility vehicle (PUV) owners without prior consultation and without issuing official receipts.
The National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) filed a complaint before the Office of the Ombudsman Visayas in Cebu City based on the complaint that Councilor Carlos Jose Lopez earlier filed with the NBI.
According to the NBI, the case was anchored on the investigation conducted by Special Investigator III Syrus Aluzan.
Reached for comment, Ebreo told Panay News via phone call that he cannot yet say anything about the case because he has not received any document from the NBI or the Ombudsman.
Puentevella, on the other hand, was still on leave as of press time. He earlier joined the Philippine delegation to the FIBA World Cup in Spain.
A document from NBI, signed by Bacolod District Office officer-in-charge Joseph Rigodon, stated that, sometime in January this year, the respondents, through BTAO, started “demanding and collecting money” from PUV owners as payment for body number stickers “without an official receipt.”
The payment ranged from P150 to P300, said the NBI.
On April 24, Lopez, as then chairman of the Sangguniang Panlungsod committee on transportation, conducted a public hearing on the issue.
Stakeholders, including Ebreo himself, attended the public hearing.
The committee found out that there was no consultation held prior to the collection of payments.
Also, there was no bidding conducted for the supply of the body number stickers, no backup ordinance and no official receipt issued, the NBI said.
A subpoena issued to Puentevella and Ebreo remained unheeded, “prompting this office to resolve the matter ex parte,” it added./PN
