Ombudsman dismisses Albay governor

Its 15-page decision was approved on April 10 by Deputy Ombudsman for Visayas Dante Vargas, officer in charge of the office at the time of the decision's approval.

"On the basis of the evidence presented and arguments raised by the parties, this office finds substantial evidence to hold respondent liable for grave misconduct," the office said.

The decision stemmed from the complaint filed by Alwin Nimo on Feb. 13, 2024, against Lagman over the alleged receipt of protection money from August 2019 to June 2022 when he was vice governor.

The decision stated that "[g]rounded on the alleged receipt by the respondent of" P8.1 million from August 2019 to June 2022 as payola or protection money from jueteng operations," the complainant had accused Lagman of dishonesty, grave misconduct, and neglect of duty.

For insufficiency of evidence, the office dismissed the charges of dishonesty and neglect of duty.

In February 2024, Lagman denied receiving jueteng payola.

Asked for comment on Tuesday, he said, "I stand by my assertion that [I] have not received any jueteng payola during my term as vice governor from 2019-2022."

"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.

"That is why my legal team will prepare the necessary legal action to appeal said decision by the Ombudsman," he said.

Lagman said that he received a copy of the decision on April 24.

"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.

He said he also wrote the Department of the Interior and Local Government regional office to inform them of the Ombudsman's decision.

In its decision, the Office of the Ombudsman said that 60 "bank deposit slips, together with the initial accusatory affidavits of complainant and his witnesses show that respondent received payolas or protection money from jueteng operations totaling to an amount of P8.1 million from August 2019 to June 2022."

"It bears noting that the aforementioned deposit transactions were not sufficiently rebutted by the respondent," the office said.