A former Parañaque City barangay councilor was arrested by police at his home over the weekend over libel charges filed by a real estate company located at the Entertainment City.
Paranaque Regional Trial Court Judge Aida Estrella Macapagal-Fojas of Branch 195 issued a warrant of arrest Friday against Jonathan Z. Bernardo, a former Kagawad of Barangay San Isidro.
On June 2017, Bernardo lodged a graft complaint before the Office of the Ombudsman against Parañaque Mayor Edwin Olivarez and 12 other city officials over an alleged disadvantageous tax settlement with a group of companies in 2013.
Bernardo implicated in the complaint the firms D.M. Wenceslao & Associates, Inc., Wendel Holdings Co., Inc., Fabricom Manufacturing Corp., and Aseana Holdings, Inc., collectively the “Wenceslao Group” in the complaint.
The barangay councilor said Olivarez gave undue benefits to the Wenceslao Group in late 2013 in relation to several construction projects in the mixed-use reclaimed area of the city, which was “disadvantageous to Paranaque.”
The complainant pointed out that tax settlements allegedly defrayed the liabilities of the respective companies in the Wenceslao Group by “a whopping 62.68%” which translated into a payment of P269.89 million instead of P723.27 million.
Olivarez pointed out that the Supreme Court itself approved the compromised agreement by the parties. However, the Wenceslao Group claimed the allegation that the city government lost more than P450 million due to tax credits was “baseless” and that they overpaid Paranaque by more than P390 million.
The company’s legal counsel, Paul Quinto, said the group paid around P700 million in real property taxes (RPT) for its Aseana City property since 1995.
For maligning the reputation and the good name of the company, the Wenceslao Group was prompted to file a libel case against Bernardo, who is reportedly gunning for a council seat in next year’s elections.
Judge Macapagal-Fojas recommended a P10,000 bail for Bernardo’s temporary liberty.