DOJ indicts Ilocos Sur town mayor over beach resort takeover

The Department of Justice (DOJ) has indicted an Ilocos Sur town mayor for serious illegal detention in connection with the alleged forcible closure of a local beach resort with several people, including a 4-year-old, trapped inside.

In a resolution seen Wednesday, the DOJ said there is a probable cause to charge Cabugao town mayor Josh Edward Cobangbang and 19 others in court for padlocking the Cabugao Beach Resort when operator Virginia Nicole Savellano-Ong, her son, and seven employees refused to leave.

Ong was identified in the resolution as the business partner of the original lessee of the property, Antonio Valera. In 2016, Valera executed a quitclaim, but the local government allegedly continued to accept monthly rentals.

In the same year, the municipality opened the property to another qualified lessee, and in July 2017, the mayor demanded Ong and her employees to leave. Valera withdrew the quitclaim.

On Aug. 23, 2017, municipal employees threatened to close the property without presenting a court order. While Ong, her son, and her employees were inside, the town staff locked the rooms with wooden planks and the gate with metal chains and padlocks.

They were released on Aug. 25 when Ong's lawyer arrived with police, according to the DOJ.

The Jan. 15 resolution granted Ong's petition for review and reversed the findings of a panel of prosecutors that dismissed the complaints in April last year. It ordered the Ilocos Sur provincial prosecutor to file charges for serious illegal detention and grave coercion against the respondents.

Signing for the Justice Secretary, Undersecretary Deo Marco said in the resolution that all elements of the two alleged offenses were present in the case.

While the municipality owns the resort, it has no power to eject alleged usurpers who had prior physical possession of the property, and must file the appropriate action in court for the purpose, the DOJ said.

"Wading through the legal entanglements, it can at once be seen that appellant and her companions were padlocked -- a punishment of sorts -- for their refusal to leave," it said.

It said Cobangbang "acted beyond the scope of his authority and so did the other respondent-appellees who relied upon the former's unlawful orders." —LDF, GMA News