Whoever was behind an anti-graft complaint filed against the Cajes couple was yet to be unmasked but it was surmised that this could be part of the battle royale pitting. Gov. Erico Aumentado and Trinidad Mayor Judith Cajes for second district congressman. The Aumentado-Cajes encounter capped months of negotiation for the lady mayor to reconsider her plan of running against the governor. But it appeared that both protagonists have reached the point of no return that a torrid exchange of charges and counter charges provided fodder to an otherwise exciting contest. This developed after right in the Cajeses' backyard, Gov. Aumentado no longer hid his support for the candidacy of V-Gov. Julius Ceasar Herrera for Bohol governor. During a rally in Talibon yesterday, Aumentado was seen raising the hands of Herrera and his running mate former provincial Administrator Tomas Abapo, Jr.

ANTI-GRAFT VS CAJESES

A citizen of Guinobatan, the home barangay of Rep. Roberto Cajes in Trinidad town and his wife, Mayor del Rosario-Cajes, has sought an Ombudsman probe on the alleged unexplained wealth, tax evasion and other irregularities of Bohol 's 2nd District solon. One Allan Aguilar Manching lodged his complaint dated January 25 before Deputy Ombudsman for the Visayas Pelagio Apostol thru Director for Evaluation and Investigation Carla Narvios-Tanco. The office received the letter two days later. In his complaint, Manching said some barangay captains in Trinidad have been complaining of alleged short deliveries of road materials for their much reduced allocation as the bulk was realigned to Guinobatan. As of his writing, Manching said the materials have not been spread – purportedly because the Cebuana contractor had to wait until the solon's heavy equipment are available. Manching supported his complaint on the realignment with the proposed priority allocation and target by region for calendar year 2009 of the Department of Agriculture's (DA) Farm-to-Market Road (FMR) Development Program.

Under this program 18 of Trinidad 's barangays were to get P500,000 each for the rehabilitation of their respective FMRs while Guinobatan got P5 million and Kauswagan, P1 million. A subsequent list that Manching called “irregular realignment” however drastically reduced the allocation, this time down to P200,000 only and “prejudicial” to the 19 barangays while Guinobatan got a whopping P11.2 million. He also asked the Ombudsman to verify with the Commission on Audit (COA) assigned to the District Engineering Office II of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) if indeed it did not authorize the payment for the rehabilitation of the Banlasan-San Isidro FMR in Trinidad due to alleged short deliveries and sub-standard work. Manching added that licensed Boholano contractors failed to secure DPWH-Bohol II and DPWH-7 projects in the 2nd District because “outsiders” like Geety Construction, Yakal Construction and Triple 888 ACY Construction of Cebu, Leyte and Southern Leyte respectively are apparently the favored bidders – “obviously to hide commissions of graft and corruption especially in the use of the congressman's earth-moving equipment.”

Affected projects

He listed projects undertaken by the above contractors now allegedly suffering negative slippages for the Ombudsman to probe as follows: Guinobatan FMR, improvement of the Ubay Public Market Circumferential Road in Ubay town; construction of the Trinidad River Control in Trinidad; and the Rehabilitation/improvement or re-blocking of sections of the national road in Ubay, Trinidad , Clarin and Danao towns all allegedly using only one set of equipment mostly owned by Cajes. He claimed that haphazard re-blocking work in Clarin caused Fr. Goder of Nahawan Parish of that town to meet an accident. Fr. Goder died before Christmas last year. His family is contemplating to file charges against DPWH and the contractor. Other “substandard” projects, Manching alleged, are the re-blocking of the Tagbilaran East Road (TER) Talibon-Getafe Road , improvement of the Poblacion-San Vicente-La Esperanza Road in Dagohoy town; the Guinobatan Reclamation Project and the P10-million asphalt overlay of the Junction Getafe to the Talibon Wharf Road .

The latter, he said, is a Portland Cement Concrete Pavement (PCCP) highway still in very good condition “so that the asphalt overlay thereon is unnecessary and a wanton waste of public funds.” The project could have been undertaken in the improvement of the Sagbayan-Danao or Danao-Getafe roads which are still macadam or gravel highways, he pointed out. He said the project was given to Jocyn Construction of Jun Rabaya. It does not even have an environment compliance commitment (ECC), he quoted Provincial Environment and Natural Resources Officer Nestor Canda as saying. “A big commission is involved here reportedly,” he added. The heavy equipment used by the aforecited contractors are allegedly owned by the congressman. These are based in his well fenced-off compound in Guinobatan, and are registered at the Land Transportation Office (LTO) in Subic , Tagbilaran or Talibon.

PROPERTIES

Manching also asked the Ombudsman to check on the following houses and buildings registered in the name of the solon and/or his family members to find out if he has been paying the correct amount of taxes: a two-storey luxury house in New Intramuros Subdivision along Commonwealth ave. in Quezon City; apartment/buildings located along R. Landon and Junquera sts. In Cebu City ; The Cajes-del Rosario building in Poblacion, Talibon that houses the LTO, the solon's drug testing center, insurance and smoke emission offices and other business concerns. He quoted the mayor of Talibon as saying that the building was constructed without permit but he could not do anything about it “because of the power of the congressman.” The town had acquired a lot on which to construct a building to house the LTO. But then, the solon constructed his own building and housed therein his businesses that have transactions with LTO together with that office. He said Cajes also has residences in Tagbilaran city, Talibon and Guinobatan.

Reports also say that the solon had just acquired two houses and lots adjacent to his Tagbilaran property. Manching added that the congressman has several vehicles registered in his and/or his wife's name/s, and a Nissan Patrol and Isuzu Alterra in their daughter Jane Censoria's name. The latter is the national Sangguniang Kabataan (SK) federation president. The vehicles are registered at the LTO in Quezon City , Metro Manila, Cebu , Tagbilaran or Talibon. He said the congressman's property holdings can be matched against his statement of assets and liabilities and income tax returns from 2001 to 2010, adding that “accordingly, the solon has not paid the proper taxes for the income from the operation of his heavy equipment, road projects, drug testing and emission centers and rentals of buildings, among others. Please cause the necessary investigation and file the proper cases if the evidence so warrants, Maching ended.