Ombudsman dismisses Albay gov over ‘jueteng’ payola rap
LEGAZPI CITY—Barely a week since he resumed his post after serving a six-month suspension, Albay Gov. Edcel Greco “Grex” Lagman had to step down from office anew.
The Office of the Ombudsman ordered the dismissal of Lagman after finding him guilty of grave misconduct for allegedly receiving around P8 million in payola in exchange for protecting the operators of “jueteng,” an illegal numbers game, that supposedly thrived in the province on his watch.
According to the Jan. 28 order that was released only this week, the Ombudsman said it “found substantial evidence,” through bank deposit slips and the affidavits of the so-called bagmen, that Lagman acted allegedly as a “coddler and protector” of jueteng during his time as vice governor and presiding officer of the Sangguniang Panlalawigan (provincial board).
In a private message to the Inquirer Tuesday, Lagman said he stood by his assertion that he did not receive any jueteng payola during his term as vice governor from 2019 to 2022.
“In fact, when I assumed the governorship on Dec. 1, 2022, I have always maintained an anti-jueteng stand. This goes without saying that I did not receive any jueteng payola as well as governor until I left office,” he said.
(Lagman, elected vice governor in 2019, became Albay’s governor on Dec. 1, 2022 after the Commission on Elections disqualified then Gov. Noel Rosal.)
According to Lagman, his legal team was preparing the necessary legal action to appeal the Ombudsman decision.
He said he received a copy of the decision on April 24 and decided to immediately vacate the governor’s office.
“As a lawyer and officer of the court, I humbly submitted myself to the legal processes and vacated my office. The workings of the provincial government of Albay should not be hampered and should continue,” he said.
Willful action
Lagman added: “I even voluntarily wrote a letter to [Regional Director] Isko Escober of the Department of the Interior and Local Government Region V informing him of the Ombudsman’s decision. It is because his office was not furnished a copy of the same. This was to guide him in the appropriate action he would take.”
Lagman’s dismissal order followed the six-month preventive suspension that began on Oct. 10, 2024. He resumed as governor on April 21.
“This office finds that respondent had been animated by a corrupt motive to benefit from illegal gambling. His corrupt actions were willful and done with discernment,” part of the 15-page decision read.
The Ombudsman, however, dismissed the charges of dishonesty and neglect of duty for “lack of basis” saying there is “neither allegation nor proof pertaining to the lies or deception the respondent had committed in relation to his act of receiving payola from jueteng operators.”
The allegations stemmed from the supposed falling out between Lagman and the complainant, former village chair Alwin Nimo of Barangay Anislag of Daraga town, supposedly over payola in the jueteng operations.
In bringing the charges against Lagman in February 2024, Nimo claimed he worked as jueteng “bangkero” (financier) and started handing out “protection money” to Lagman allegedly at the latter’s behest so that he and his colleagues at the Sangguniang Panlalawigan would “look the other way” and not look into the proliferation of jueteng.
Nimo claimed they agreed to a weekly payola of P60,000 to be personally delivered to Lagman or his driver until the vice governor allegedly requested that the payout be made through bank deposit.
But they purportedly clashed over the payola when Lagman took over as governor in 2022 and told those involved in jueteng that Nimo could not be trusted as he was stealing the former’s share.
Nimo presented 60 bank deposit slips that the Ombudsman admitted as evidence, as the acquisition of the bank records were not done in violation of Republic Act No. 1405, or the bank secrecy law, the prosecutors noted.
Highly suspicious
The Ombudsman also saw as “highly suspicious” and “unsubstantiated” the recantation of complainant Nimo as well as witnesses Jeff Mangalinao and Dexter Maceda, the two supposed bagmen that personally handed the money to either Lagman or his driver from August 2019 to January 2021.
Mangalinao was identified as Nimo’s associate while Maceda was said to be a cousin of Nimo.
“The withdrawal was, however, highly suspicious considering that the complainant merely claimed that he is suffering serious anxieties because of this case, and Mangalinao as well as Maceda simply said they were only made to sign a blank document without knowledge of its nature and purpose,” the Ombudsman said.
Their affidavits and the bank deposit slips were all together given “probative value” in the investigation, it stressed.
The Ombudsman also noted that Lagman never denied the supposed bank transactions and even admitted the existence of the bank account in question.
“Respondent merely invoked the bank secrecy law to assail its admissibility,” it added.
