Trashing Magdalena–Stranger Things in Small-Town Laguna
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The iconic Church of Saint Mary Magdalene often featured in film and TV drama series was built in 1829 by Spanish Friars. Emilio Jacinto was detained here in 1896 but eventually escaped with the help of locals to continue the fight for freedom (File Photo).
An investigation of municipal records, official town council minutes, Facebook posts, and eyewitness accounts reveal how Lapada’s alliances and interventions coincided with procedural lapses, questionable clearances, and alleged attempts to influence local politics. These all raise concerns not unlike the fake-mayor Alice Guo affair that exposed money laundering activities through illicit enterprises in three small municipalities in Central Luzon.
Like a mushroom, Dario Lapada sprouted from nowhere in early 2023. He first introduced himself to municipal leaders as a doctor, a businessman, and the President of the Rotary Club of Makati Global. He offered financial assistance for municipal projects that needed it. Based on posts on a Facebook account (that has since been deactivated), Lapada began privately courting town leaders and citizens. He sponsored social events, handed out cash aid, umbrellas, vitamins, and over-the-counter medicines to the needy. He gave out service vehicles to barangays and office equipment and TV sets to all Samahang Kabataan councils. He also brought medical missions and other healthcare services to various barangays.
Top Left Photo: Standing behind Pastor Apollo Quiboloy at the blessing of President Rodrigo Duterte (ABS-CBN News Channel Screenshot, May 20, 2016); Top Right Photo: With former 1st Lady Imelda Marcos at Lapada’s 50th birthday party (Tulong Magdalena FB Page screenshot (October 2023); Bottom Left: With ally Vince Soriano, Mayor of Pakil, Laguna & Laguna Provincial Chairman of Lakas-CMD (Tulong Magdalena FB Page screenshot September 2024); Bottom Center: Arm-raising with the late President Fidel V. Ramos (CANCER Party-list’ Website, April, 2016); Bottom Right: With Speaker Martin Romuladez at a Lakas-CMD event (Tulong Magdalena FB Page screenshot, September, 2024)
In early 2024, leveraging his donations throughout the town, Lapada then publicly conveyed his intent to run for mayor, catching incumbent Mayor Pedro Bucal completely off-guard. Lapada is an outsider without deep or longstanding ties to the 204-year-old municipality near the foothills of Mt. Banahaw; his run is unprecedented. His candidacy has drawn attention and sparked controversy, but what has stirred upheaval was his disclosure that he was willing to spend up to ₱200 million on his campaign in a small 4th-class municipality.
If true, This obscene amount (perhaps intended to intimidate local contenders), would translate to a ratio of nearly ₱11,000 per voter in a small town with a modest ₱168 million annual budget and 18,586 registered voters. Evident in local Facebook discourse, this development has had an insidious effect, fostering unusually intense divisions that did not exist between partisan groups in previous elections.
Sometime before the deadline for filing his Certificate of Candidacy in October 2024, Lapada, single and unencumbered, began buying properties and constructing various structures in quick succession. He started building a house (still unfinished) in an enclosed compound far from the town center near the public cemetery, and renovated a house that was turned into a Tulong Magdalena health clinic right across the municipal health center. The clinic offered diagnostic services not available in the public health center and too expensive for most Magdaleños in need. He also acquired foreclosed land and started building a strip mall (still unfinished). He also leased an expansive property for his campaign headquarters adjacent to Mayor Bucal’s home, perhaps meant to intimidate the incumbent.
Renovated house, turned into a Tulong Magdalena health clinic opened in September 2024 right across the Municipal Health Center (File Photo)
These expenses not only demonstrated his overwhelming financial capacity, but also his intention to establish a domicile. However, it remains unclear if a legal domicile in Magdalena was ever established. The barangay captain, citing fear of retaliation, declined to confirm if Lapada had indeed lived in the neighborhood for the duration mandated by election law. Moreover, to this day, his exact home address remains a mystery to most, even to those associated with his campaign.
More curious and significant is the place of birth on his Certificate of Candidacy; Lapada listed his birthplace as Parang, Maguindanao, born in October 1973, but this is unverified without a birth certificate. This is also a red flag. 1973 marked a significant escalation of the Moro insurgency in Mindanao. Maguindanao, then part of the province of Cotabato, was not yet officially a separate province until November of that year, and because of ongoing secessionist military operations then, Parang would have been virtually no man’s land without a reliable civil registry, which today, are ideal circumstances to facilitate a market for fake documents. This raises the authenticity of Lapada’s birth certificate.
An Ungodly Ordinance
According to an insider source, around mid-2023, Mayor Bucal and Sanggunian Bayan (SB) members attended a meeting in Pagsanjan, Laguna. The discussion centered on a proposed municipal ordinance to re-zone agricultural land. This proposal originated from a village council resolution in Barangay Sabang which approved the re-zoning stemming from a petition of the landowner, Leonard Mangubat, in 2022. Ironically, the land was originally a grant under the government’s Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program.
In addition to the municipal officials, the meeting included businessmen who were proponents of the landfill project, all of whom actively pushed for the ordinance's approval. But there was more to it than just lobbying; after the meeting, money changed hands.
“Yung mga kikita ng malaki nagalok ng insentib,” revealed the insider source. “Nagabot ng pera nakalagay sa embelop, pero ibinalik ni mayor yung kanya.”
(Those who would profit the most handed out cash in an envelope but the Mayor returned his)
Moreover, the source also shared that shortly after the dubious gathering in Pagsanjan, Lapada reportedly hosted a junket at the Okada Manila resort for the councilors. The source suggested that Lapada may have business stakes in both Okada Manila and the planned landfill.
On November 29, 2023, the Magdalena Sangguniang Bayan held a regular council session where they unanimously approved, on first reading, an ordinance to reclassify 3.2 hectares of agricultural land in Barangay Sabang for a “sanitary landfill.” Eight SB members voted for the ordinance's passage with two SB members absent.
The ordinance passed without a public hearing nor did the SB’s standing committees on Land Use, Agriculture, Environmental Protection, or Health and Social Welfare hold meaningful hearings or provide substantive comment. In addition, it was approved even without a Certificate of Compliance required by law from the Municipal Development & Planning Coordinator aligning the proposal with Magdalena’s Comprehensive Land Use Plan.
Legal Reckoning and Community Outcry
On December 11, 2023, Mayor Bucal vetoed the ordinance due to irregular clearances and lack of environmental protection measures. However, seven councilors quickly overturned this veto, and the vice mayor, Chairman of the Sangguniang Bayan, did not publicly question the ordinance's flawed procedures.
The mayor's concerns about anomalous clearances stemmed from the Department of Agriculture’s (Region IV-CALABARZON) unusually rapid issuance of a Land Use Reclassification Certification and the Environmental Management Bureau of the DENR's approval of the Environment Compliance Certificate without a proper assessment.
Following a contentious Facebook post in January 2025 that drew criticism from a sitting Sangguniang Bayan (SB) member and a former mayor, the process by which the SB approved the ordinance underwent scrutiny. After reviewing documents from the SB and the Mayor’s office, and consulting with legal counsel, an administrative and potentially criminal complaint was filed with the Ombudsman against the entire Sangguniang Bayan in March 2025.
The complaint alleges that the Sangguinang Bayan circumvented necessary public hearings, submitted an irregular reclassification to the DA, accepted improper agency clearances, and overrode a valid veto, potentially violating numerous laws and ethical guidelines.
Local civic organizations were shocked to hear that such an ordinance was passed and expressed their opposition at an impromptu meeting. These include key leaders of the Alumni Association of the Ananias Laico Memorial Elementary School, the Pastoral Council of Saint Mary Magdalene Parish, an association of some 300 Overseas Filipino Workers from Magdalena, the town’s Lions Club, and other local groups. Similarly, almost all candidates for the council from competing slates expressed opposition to the ordinance at a public forum.
Tulong Magdalena ticket campaign poster in support of INC “Peace” rally in January in opposition to the impeachment efforts against Vice President Sara Duterte. Note the use of a younger, idealized image of himself instead of an actual photo of a middle aged Lapada (Tulong Magdalena, FB Page screenshot, January 2024)
A Synchronized Team
On November 3, 2023, three weeks before the SB’s first-reading ordinance vote, Lapada publicly launched the Tulong Magdalena Facebook account which later morphed into the Team Lapada electoral slate that included eight of the ten SB members involved in the rezoning ordinance.
Lapada’s playbook before the official campaign period included high-visibility gestures. For instance, a grand debut at the town plaza on Valentine’s Day 2024, which he fully funded, drew implicit endorsements from incumbent councilors and two former mayors. His Facebook activity included a November 6, 2023, post with pictures and a video alongside former First Lady Imelda Marcos. Later during the campaign period, images surfaced of the full Team Lapada interacting with Speaker Martin Romualdez at an arm-raising event of the Lakas-CMD party.
Lapada appears highly ambitious and adept at cultivating influence within various political factions. For instance, an ABS-CBN News Channel report captured Lapada standing behind Pastor Apollo Quiboloy during a blessing ceremony for President Rodrigo Duterte following his 2016 election win. Additionally, a photograph shows the late President Fidel V. Ramos endorsing Lapada during an unsuccessful 2022 campaign for the CANCER partylist which Lapada also reportedly funded.
Despite the serious implications of the ordinance, Lapada has maintained a low public profile regarding the landfill which could generate billions in both transparent and concealed revenue. Team Lapada has neither formally confirmed nor denied their stance on the project; it has also avoided public scrutiny by not attending a public election forum and by not responding to numerous, critical related posts in Facebook.
With unparalleled electoral expenditures in such a small municipality, Team Lapada’s Bagong Magdalena, Bagong Pag-asa grand vision has a fantastical, commercialized view of the future for a rural community, but it has garnered considerable support among younger demographics, especially with cash incentives to the young unemployed and underemployed, temporarily hired as coordinators.
An alleged mobilization plan for the nine principal Team Lapada SB candidates, including the vice mayor, allegedly involves weekly allowances of ₱20,000 each. Supposedly, they have been tasked with recruiting 150 coordinators, who would each then recruit 9 voters. The organization could theoretically result in 1,350 coordinators and 12,150 voters in 24 barangays by election day. Beyond the allowances for top nine organizers, the alleged plan reportedly includes paying up to ₱1000 for each coordinator per meeting and ₱1,000 for each of the 12,150 voters, which could result in ₱12,150,000 for buying votes.
If this intricate and well-funded organization were fully deployed, it would be formidable machinery on election day, comparable in size to an army division. In Magdalena, a town with only 18,536 voters, vote-buying would have an overwhelming impact, but only if it works. Who will actually support the Team Lapada slate even if paid is anyone’s guess. The key question remains whether a majority of the voters will indeed choose to vote for Team Lapada candidates.
Quo Vadis, Magdalena?
The exorbitant and obscene amounts infused into Magdalena’s elections reeks of corruption. The events remind us of a Chinese spy’s charm and money that blinded locals to make her mayor and to her nefarious agenda of human trafficking, illegal gambling, online scamming, torture, and money laundering. The citizens of Magdalena, if informed and aware, may not allow something similar to happen to our beloved hometown.
Tulong Magdalena campaign poster promising a fantastical Municipal Hospital which is unrealistic for a small 4th-class municipality and which will involve an illegal conversion of the current Emergency Evacuation Center. Note the use of a younger, idealized image of himself instead of an actual photo of a middle aged Lapada (Tulong Magdalena video screenshot, FB Page, April 2025)
The complaint draws a line in the sand and challenges Lapada and his incumbent SB allies to be more transparent and accountable in dealing with the citizenry whether they win or not. Magdaleños may not have the resources to fight those who threaten our security, but there are enough of them who will resist. Magdaleños have a long tradition of resistance, even before the Katipunan under Emilio Jacinto, to the days of Apolinario dela Cruz’s revolt.
As for this complainant, my motivation for such an uncommon, defiant act of resistance, against almost all of Team Lapada’s SB candidates, is simply driven by love for my hometown and our country. As a community philanthropy and development advocate, this love has been manifested countless times through acts of service and through several land grants to the municipality, including a plot of land for a water pumping station that serves three barangays. Corruption negates all the intended philanthropic impact of such grants, and whether Team Lapada wins or not, hindi pa tapos ang laban (the fight isn’t finished).
With the Ombudsman now reviewing the complaint, the legality of the land use reclassification — and the integrity of those who approved it — hang in the balance.
The trash site and Lapada’s candidacy present an existential threat to Magdalena. My family’s roots trace seven generations back to one of the Magdalena’s founders. My great grandfather was an officer in the Katipunan and was the first mayor of Magdalena when the country became a free and an independent republic. My grandfather briefly served as mayor, and my grandmother also served as vice mayor.
This Magdaleño feels very strongly that leadership of Magdalena should be honorable and honest. More importantly, in the immediate future, executive support for such a flawed ordinance under a Lapada mayorship will be a grave and ever-present danger to Magdalena’s public health, agriculture, and its environment.
The controversial proposed landfill would generate billions in both transparent and concealed revenue.
For Magdalena's citizens, the stakes are clear: will farmlands be transformed into a garbage dump threatening the health of the ever verdant town? Will it become the symbol of political avarice and venality that threatens the peoples’ health and welfare? As voters weigh their choices on election day, Lapada’s rising influence — and the unresolved questions around the landfill — will be central to Magdalena’s future.
However, for the nation, Magdalena is only one of 1,493 municipalities in the country. Are there others similarly threatened by moneyed strangers like Dario Lapada?
(This article was written with the assistance of AI. For more information about the author, you can read this blog: https://rcavosora.blogspot.com/2025/01/about-blogger.html )
Richard Pronove Cavosora resided in the San Francisco Bay Area for over three decades and was a regular contributor to Filipinas Magazine and Philippine News before returning to the Philippines in 2011. He became a social entrepreneur, marketing carabao dairy products of smallholder dairy farmers in Magdalena, his ancestral hometown.
