By Manuel ‘Boy’ Mejorada

A 16.2-hectare property in Brgy. San Isidro, Jaro was purchased by the City of Iloilo in January 2006 for a staggering P63.2 million for development as a relocation site when its market value was assessed only at P2.7 million, documents obtained by The News Today (TNT) showed.

Worse, the City Assessor’s Office appears to have done some hocus-pocus on its own records by making it appear that the property, which was classified as agricultural land, was categorized as “residential,” and its market value jacked up 40-fold overnight – just a day before the sale took place – to raise it to P81 million, the documents showed.

As if that wasn’t enough, the “paper magic” that was done violated existing regulations of the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) which mandates that applications for land conversion for agricultural properties involving areas of more than five hectares should be made directly with its head office, the documents indicated.

The documents form the latest batch of evidence given to this paper by Ilonggos who have expressed disgust and frustration over the seemingly endless stream of corruption scandals, particularly those involving the Iloilo City government.

“This is definitely another rip-off,” Rommel Ynion, president of the Iloilo Press Club, said after going over the documents. “The magnitude of the corruption is simply stupendous,” he added.

Ynion said this is another “smoking gun” that illustrates the “unmitigated greed” during the Treñas administration which was mired in several scandals involving corruption. “The list is getting longer and longer, starting with the Pavia housing scam,” he said.

The San Isidro property was bought by the City of Iloilo as relocation site for families who were displaced by the demolition activities to pave the way for the Iloilo Flood Control Project.

Efren Gimeo, a real estate broker who has since become village chief of Jalandoni Estate in Lapuz district, offered it to the city as attorney-in-fact for the owner, Marilyn Mirasol Inocencio, for the price of P420 per square meter sometime in 2004.

After several months of haggling, both parties arrived at a price of P392 per square meter. The deed of sale was signed on Jan. 25, 2006.

But a scrutiny of the documents covering the property and the transaction reveals how city officials connived to get the sale through at such a huge overprice.

And no less than Gimeo exposed having given more than P4 million in bribes to the Treñas administration to facilitate its approval and release of payments. A substantial amount had also gone to officials of the National Housing Authority (NHA) which was the conduit for the pork barrel funds released by Senator Franklin Drilon for the project, Gimeo had said.

Gimeo’s exposé came three days before the May 10, 2010 elections in an apparent effort to taint the image of then congressional candidate Jerry Treñas and mayoralty candidate Jed Patrick Mabilog.

Gimeo was known to be closely aligned with former Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez, who was then running for mayor against Mabilog. His son, Raul Jr., was then being challenged by Treñas.

In a press conference at the Grand Tower Hotel on May 7, 2010, Gimeo said he had personally handed over P1.25 million as kickback for Treñas through lawyer Eduardo Peñaredondo, who was then a city councilor. Another P1 million was given to a “very close aide” of Treñas, he said at the time.

Another P3 million was distributed among other city officials, he said.

Gimeo declined to comment on the issue when TNT reached him by telephone yesterday.

Among the documents that came to the possession of this paper are tax declarations covering the property for the years 1999 to 2005.

For the years 1999-2002, the City Assessor’s Office had classified Lot No. 4292-B as “agricultural (riceland)” with a market value of P3,366,560 and assessed value of P269,320.

For the years 2003-2005, the property continued to be declared and classified as “agricultural (riceland),” but with a lower market value of P2,754,030. Its assessed value went up slightly to P330,480.

Inocencio, as property owner at the time, paid a total of P7,434.90 as real property taxes for the year 2005.

However, on Jan. 24, 2006, the City Assessor’s Office issued a new tax declaration that changed the classification of the property from “agricultural” to “residential.” The market value for the property was jacked up to P81,001,000 while the assessed value also rocketed to P6,075,080.

Apparently, the issuance of the new tax declaration was made to justify the overprice.

It was issued just a day before the deed of sale was signed by and between Treñas and Inocencio.

The reclassification was grossly anomalous, according to a real estate broker interviewed by TNT.

“There was no basis at all to make that reclassification and raise the market value forty times at just a flick of the finger,” the realtor, who asked not to be named, said.(To be continued)