SAN ANTONIO, Zambales— A beach resort owner in this coastal town has filed a complaint at the Office of the Ombudsman against Mayor Edzel Lonzanida, who was accused of graft and corruption for allegedly refusing to issue her business permit.
In her complaint-affidavit, Jemmielyn Tayag, owner of a beach resort located in Sitio Talisayen, Barangay Pundaquit, said Lonzanida was "biased," acted in "bad faith," and neglected his duties as the chief executive when he "unjustly refused" to issue a business permit last year and this year.
According to Tayag, the refusal to issue the permit stemmed from a complaint filed by a certain Apolinario Mendoza against her.
Mendoza claimed he holds the Transfer Certificates of Title and Tax Declarations for the beach resort, which Tayag said she operated from 2017 to 2022.
Tayag lamented that she managed to obtain a business permit for her resort from those years, but when Lonzanida assumed office last year, the official denied her application for business permit renewal.
According to Tayag, the Transfer Certificates of Title and Tax Declarations in the possession of Mendoza were all issued by Lonzanida's father, former mayor Romeo Lonzanida, and had been declared by the Supreme Court as falsified documents.
The father of the sitting mayor Edzel, former Mayor Romeo Lonzanida is currently serving his sentence of 80 years for 10 counts of Falsification of Public Documents concerning the same property claimed by the complainant’s family.
Tayag said the younger Mayor Lonzanida was fully aware of the SC ruling, which is a "clear violation" of the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act.
The younger Lonzanida is currently holding a Tax Declaration of a portion of the disputed land which stemmed from the falsified documents issued by his father.
The complainant sees this as the reason why her business permit has not been renewed.
In a telephone interview at the mayor's office, Municipal Administrator Jovy A. Arlantico said:
"We have heard about it and it has also been reported on other radio stations, but we have not received any complaints from the Office of the Ombudsman, so we still do not know if these allegations are true.
“We see posts about it on social media, but the official complaint for the Office of the Mayor has not yet been received, so we cannot respond yet. We would like to release an official statement once we have received it, and we will call you in as soon as possible."
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