Corruption at Davao City Council - Update 9

Tipster bares source of
P1.5M in SP bribery

Davao City councilor Nilo Abellera said an informant who earlier phoned him about a P1.5 million bribe money allegedly given to a councilor in exchange for approval of a permit has resurfaced to tell more.

He called me up again to say that the money involved approval of the King David statue, Abellera told the council committee on ethics probing allegations against councilor Conrado Baluran. The giant statue stands on a foreshore area illegally reclaimed by Queensland Motel in Matina Aplaya. The city council is investigating the illegal intrusion into a government reservation area.

Abellera said he was however prone to dismiss the informant as a prankster out to create division in the legislative body. Earlier, Abellera had said the male called him up to volunteer the information about the P1.5 million brike. He said the male caller did not identify himself.

The voice is the same, Abellera told the hearing, attended by Militar who had accused Baluran of swaying him into breaking house rules to accommodate legislative proposals.

The ethics probe was called by ethics committee chairman councilor Diosdado Mahipus after Militar resigned as floor leader last month over his allegations of corruption in the council.

In yesterday’s hearing, Militar admitted Baluran, a real estate broker, merely attempted to push him into accommodating the proposals.

But he said the Ombudsman could look into Baluran’s real estate dealings for conflict of interest. He said Baluran could be using his position as a city councilor to promote his business. Baluran said he had stopped his real estate business after he was elected as city councilor.