Baraan denies hand in Awai land deal fiasco
LINGAYEN–“I had nothing do with that.”
Thus said former Dagupan City Administrator RafaelBaraan, finally breaking his silence on the Awai deal issue in which the 30-hectare land bought by Dagupan City in San Jacinto for landfill site was entirely lost to the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP).
Baraan, now provincial administrator, reacted to charges made by one online reader of The PUNCH accusing him of being corrupt, citing the Awai deal as an example.
Baraan also brushed aside charges he was enmeshed in illegal transactions.
At the same time, he swore he did not even know Jose Mariano Cuna who was the one who sold the 30-hectare property to the city government for P16 million.
Baraan said he was surprised to hear reports that the entire property was taken over by CARP.
He said he can distinctly remember that it was his brother, lawyer Francisco Baraan III, who followed up the case with the Department of Agrarian Reform.
Baraan did not name the people involved in the transaction but said “you can perhaps ask the councilors of the previous city council”.
He insinuated that money greased the palms of some city officials then, including those in the city council.
On the MC Adore property issue, Baraan said the city bought the same because “that was a good buy”.
It was made available to the city government at a much lower rate than the properties being sold by the banks, he said, adding that the Department of Finance should be blamed for selling the property which is being claimed by several parties, including the Catholic Church.—LM
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