Former Abra municipal officer takes on the powerful Luna family

One brave soul has mustered the courage to bring the powerful Luna family to court.

Bernadine S. Joson, concurrent secretary to the Sangguniang Bayan of Lagayan, Abra

and until recently municipal planning and development coordinator, filed before the Ombudsman charges of plunder, graft and corruption, technical malversation, unethical conduct, and violation of the government procurement reform act against former mayor and congresswoman Cecilia Seares-Luna and her eldest son Jendricks, who is president of the Lagayan Association of Barangay Captains.

Also charged were Mayor Purificacion Blaza Paingan, aunt of Cecilia; Vice Mayor Lara Haya Seares Luna; Marissa G. Donato, relative of the Lunas who is the municipal treasurer; Meno C. Dickenson,municipal accountant and Osborne P. Dolaoen, municipal engineer.

In the complaint, filed with counsels Harry Roque and Romel Bagares of Center Law Philippines, Joson said: “The plunder committed by mother and son take together from the years 2003 to 2010 amounts to total of at least Php133,907,142.”

Joson’s complaint-affidavit “is a story of how key members of a political family in a small far-flung, underdeveloped town in Abra, over a period of a little more than a decade, in the absence of a viable system of checks and balances, has been raiding and plundering the town’s coffers.”

This was possible, she said, because during this period and until now, key members of the family and their cronies controlled key offices of the local government, including the Sangguniang Bayan.

“It is a story of unmitigated greed of government officials in a forgotten town where to date, they perpetuate a reign of fear and plunder,” Joson said.

She is doing it because she said she wants to put a stop to “insufferable neglect and indignities” the people of Lagayan (what an apt name for what the Lunas have turned the town into) had borne in silence all these years.

It is also an act of redemption for her and her family because she said, “for so long I have allowed myself to be abused and exploited.”

Despite the fact that she had the necessary qualifications for the job. being a holder of a Business Administration degree, Joson said her parents, who were political supporters of Cecilia lobbied hard for her to get the job.

As the town’s planning and development officer, Joson said she was entrusted with all the paper work – from letters to project proposals, to annual reports of the accomplishments of the town to whatnot. “For the first time in my life I felt important and valued for what I do. I am not one to whine or complain, even if the work given to me entails the preparation of voluminous documents, for as long as I see that the work that I do is valued,” she said.

A few months later, on October 24, 1998, Joson said Cecilia Luna assigned her to serve concurrently as secretary to the Sangguniang Bayan because she was told their family trusted her. “She (Cecilia Luna) said I will be their eyes and ears at the Sangguniang Bayan so they would know if the vice mayor is planning anything against them,” she said.

“Little did I know that my job would expose me to the intricacies of big-time corruption in a small town,”Joson said.

Joson related that as SB Secretary she should have earned an additional representation allowance of P3,860 a month for the position but the fund instead went to the pockets of the mayor.

Last year immediately after President Aquino took office, the municipal treasurer, Mrs. Donato, informed the employees that she bought yellow T-shirts – the color of “Daang Matuwid”, to be used during a presentation at the inauguration and turnover ceremonies of newly elected officials. It was deducted from their salary.

Considering that Lagayan has a population of only 4,000 and enjoys an internal revenue allotment of about P32 million a year, the amount of people’s money siphoned off by the Lunas to their pockets is mindboggling.

It was one act of corruption after another at the expense of the employees and the people of Lagayan.

Joson said she acceded to the orders of Mayor Jendricks Luna to insert in the Annual Investment Plan for 2011 the amount of Php1,050,000 for the River Diversion Project, fearful of a possible bloodbath.

In Abra, killings are ordinary happenings. The decision of Joson to file charges against Cecilia and Jendricks Luna and their associates entailed tremendous courage.

She needs the community’s support. After all, as the Irish philosopher Edmund Burke famously said, “All that is necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing.”