Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, March 3) — Four sacked officials of Nayong Pilipino Foundation Inc. face graft and indirect bribery charges before the Sandiganbayan for supposedly accepting free flights on a private jet to South Korea and accommodations in the country from a Hong Kong-based developer during the negotiation period on a lease agreement.
Ombudsman Samuel Martires ordered the filing of charges against Nayong Pilipino chairman Patricia Yvette Malabanan Ocampo-Desiongco, and board members Alicia Manuel, Rex Anthony Villegas, Caroline Lansang, Elizabeth Mercado and Efraim Perez, according to a press statement from the Office of the Ombudsman sent out Tuesday.
The Ombudsman said it found that the four accepted free flights and accommodations from Landing International Development Limited from September 29, 2017 to October 1, 2017 to be at the grand opening of its Shinwa Theme Park in South Korea.
President Rodrigo Duterte fired in August 2018 all Nayong Pilipino officers and board members over a lease contract with Landing International, which he considered to be “grossly disadvantageous” to the government.
The Justice Department later found that the lease contract between Nayong Pilipino and Landing International was void from the start as it was actually a Build-to-Operate Transfer contract, but the government corporation did not comply with laws governing such deals.
A $1.5-billion integrated resort called NayonLanding was supposed to be built on a parcel of land owned by Nayong Pilipino in Entertainment City in Parañaque.
The planned 95.7-hectare resort was supposed to house a casino, an indoor cultural theme park, and a waterpark.
Maria Fema Duterte — the President’s distant relative from Cebu and a member of the Nayong Pilipino board — filed in May 2018 criminal and administrative complaints before the Ombudsman against her fellow board members for approving the lease agreement with Landing, saying under the terms of the agreement, the government stood to lose at least ₱517 million yearly.
