Cabuyao, Laguna Vice Mayor Atty. Leif Laiglon Opiña disclosed that they are preparing graft charges against Mayor Dennis Felipe Hain and the entire city council for allegedly railroading the approval of a P4 billion loan from the Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP) last year without proper legal deliberations and procedures.

Opiña said that in addition to the illegal loan approval, he is questioning the alleged forced passage of the city’s P3.3 billion 2025 budget, tailored for the loan, without proper legal process and in violation of the Local Government Code of 1991.

“I was deliberately not included in any of its (budget and loan) deliberations or public sessions,” Opiña said, as he claimed that the city council allegedly approved the P4 billion DBP loan under Kapasiyahan Bilang 07-2022, at Hain’s direct order, without any deliberations.

The vice mayor also claimed that he vehemently opposed the loan as it lacked proper feasibility studies, procedures, public consultations, and a determination of the city government’s net borrowing capacity.

Because of Opiña’s adamant opposition to the loan, Hain allegedly called an irregular “special session” without the required 24-hour notice to Sanggunian members.

Moreover, the venue of the session, a private residence of a city councilor, was questionable for a public appropriation measure.

To complete the measure’s approval, Hain’s office, through the HRMO, informed Opiña’s office on 17 July 2023, that the city mayor was on official leave from 15 to 18 July 2023.