If there’s one piece of advice that Camarines Sur Gov. Luis Raymund “LRay” Villafuerte should heed—and soon—it’s the old maxim that people in glass houses should not throw stones.

Which is what he did when he filed last Thursday a plunder case against Deputy Speaker Arnulfo Fuentebella for allegedly misusing public funds for his personal benefit. 

What’s rather odd about LRay’s plunder case against Fuentebella is the lack of solid evidence -- whether testimonial or documentary --  to back up the allegations. The case is built on imagined and invented offenses that would most likely be thrown out by any self-respecting judge. 

What cannot de disputed, however, is the 10-or-so graft cases against LRay before the Ombudsman that are backed by solid proof compiled by no less than the Commission on Audit.

Government auditors uncovered no less than 40 cases of “irregular, unnecessary, excessive, extravagant or unconscionable expenditures” by LRay’s provincial government from 2007 to 2009.

For instance, in 2007, CoA found 21 questionable financial  transactions, including various infrastructure projects implemented since 2003 totaling P106 million that remained unfinished as of year-end. The provincial government also paid in advance the amount of P12.24 million for the purchase of a shipping vessel and a 50-ft. catamaran passenger ferry (named what else but LRay) contrary to Section 338 of Republic Act 7160 and Section 88 of Presidential Decree 1445. 

CoA’s 2008 Report on CamSur listed a total of 17 irregular financial transactions. These included various expenses related to the Kaogma Festival and World Wakepark Championship that were found to be of doubtful legality, propriety, and validity because the provincial government failed to adhere to prescribed regulations and policies on procurement and documentation.

Meanwhile, in 2009, CoA recorded a total of 20 questionable financial transactions by the provincial administration. Among these was the cash overdraft in the General Fund in the amount of P168 million as of Dec. 31, 2009, and cash advances to officers and employees amounting to P23.9 million that remained unliquidated at the end of the year.

The shenanigans did not stop in 2009. Last year, a former Provincial Board Member accused LRay and several other provincial officials of malversation of public funds and violation of Article 217 of the Revised Penal Code for approving the provincial government’s ghost purchase of a staggering P20 million worth of fuel within a period of four months from January to April 2010.

And soon after last month’s Ironman triathlon, a sitting Board Member also raised questions over the provincial government’s handling of the revenues for the competition participated in by both local and foreign athletes.

With various anomalies unearthed year after year all pointing to mismanagement by the provincial administration, LRay’s plunder charge against Fuentebella, the main author of a bill creating the new province of Nueva Camarines, is not surprising. It should be seen for what it is: a sinister form of political vendetta that has no place in civilized discourse under a democratic set-up.

Nueva Camarines  seeks to uplift the quality of life of the people in the 4th and 5th districts of CamSur and give them a better future.

But what LRay wants is to keep the whole of CamSur under his thumb and is reportedly grooming his 22-year-old son who does not speak even a word of Bicolano to run for governor in 2013 against his own father, Rep. Luis Villafuerte.

LRay’s credibility is totally shot, and he knows it. And what he should do, instead of filing a harassment suit, is to get a battery of good lawyers to defend him before the Ombudsman for the many graft cases he is facing. He is, too, bereft of any credibility for the Ombudsman to give his plunder charge against Fuentebella any credence. He should stop the charade and face the music.