House Majority Leader and Camarines Sur Rep. Rolando Andaya Jr. is facing a complaint of graft and violation of the Code of Conduct and Ethical Standards for Public Officials, perjury and falsification before the Office of the Ombudsman for non-disclosure of his properties in his Statements of Assets, Liabilities and Net Worth in 2016 and 2017.
The Truth and Justice Coalition, led by Presidential Anti-Corruption Commission commissioner Greco Belgica filed the criminal complaint against Andaya.
Belgica also filed administrative charges of serious dishonesty and grave misconduct against the lawmaker.
He accused Andaya of failure to declare nine real properties, their business interests in Noy and Ning’s Corp., and his firearms worth P4.96 million.
“We checked with the Land Transportation Office regarding 13 of his cars. There were documents to show that [information]. He, however, only declared his cars were only worth P2 million. That is misdeclaration,” he said.
“There is nothing wrong [with] being rich. What is important is, you can be able to justify where you got your money,” he added.
According to Belgica, Andaya owns bullet-proofs vehicles that cost P6 million to P9 million, and some other cars worth P3 million to P4 million.
He said the Truth and Justice Coalition was also able to obtain documents from the Philippine National Police’s Firearms and Explosives Office on Andaya’s ownership of some guns.
“His other personal properties were guns, which he did not declare. Just recently in 2018, 19 pistols and high-powered firearms have been registed in his name,” he said.
He said Andaya’s declared cash asset of P5 million appeared to be inconsistent with the travels he and his family made in 2015 to 2017, including trips to the United States of America, Qatar and Japan.
He also took into account Andaya’s supposed two spurious documents having the same declared properties, liabilities and notarial details.
The PACC head said their group is considering to file charges against 15 other public officials, including members of the House of Representatives and Senate, mayors and ex-Cabinet secretaries.
But Andaya merely brushed aside the accusation, which he said were an ‘ongoing hatchet job.’
“This is part of an ongoing hatchet job against me connected with my desire to run for the governorship of Camarines Sur,” Andaya said in a statement.
“It is an expensive demolition job being waged at all fronts, especially in social media, but with a common thread running through all of them: lies,” he said.
He said his political rivals have resorted dirty tricks to discredit him.
“In a bid to keep their stranglehold on the province, my enemies are resorting to tactics most foul, because the most recent surveys show that I will beat their candidate, despite the private and public resources at their disposal,” Andaya said.
He also dismissed the Ombudsman case as ‘harassment suit.”
“This would not have prospered if I did not heed the clamor of my provincemates to lead them in changing the bad way the province has been governed for years.”
“I do not expect the masterminds behind this complaint to get my side but I expect Mr. Belgica, as a government official, to have asked for my side, and I would have gladly provided him with the facts,” Andaya said.
Unfortunately, Andaya said, Belgica “miserably failed in this one elementary aspect, and opted to chase publicity.” “This stunt leads me to conclude that he has been a clueless victim of a prank, or a party of an ongoing hatchet job against me.”
“That of the thousands of officials, it was done to me, and two days before the start of the filing of the candidacy at that, smacks of a contracted demolition job.
“If Mr. Belgica wants to be impartial and fair, I would suggest that he conducts the same investigation into the SALN of my political opponents,” Andaya said.