09/09/2025
𝐄𝐱𝐩𝐨𝐬é: 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐃𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐬 𝐃𝐞𝐜𝐞𝐩𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐨𝐟 𝐀𝐭𝐭𝐲. 𝐑𝐞𝐠𝐚𝐥 𝐎𝐥𝐢𝐯𝐚
In the discipline of law, precision is the bedrock. A lawyer must not only argue but must argue with facts, evidence, and truth. Yet Atty. Regal Oliva continues to stray from this standard—flaunting “points of view” like a marites trading gossip rather than a lawyer armed with the discipline of truth.
Her latest misstep is as revealing as it is reckless. Clinging to a Cebu Daily News (CDN) article, she hastily declared that the most expensive flood control project in Cebu Province is the ₱173.3 million Tipolo River project in Mandaue City. But in her rush to weaponize this claim, Regal conveniently ignored the very subsection of the same article she cited.
The CDN report states plainly:
“What are the most expensive flood-control projects?
Technically, the single flood control project in Cebu with the highest price tag is the construction of a Flood Mitigation Structure along Tipolo River, Mandaue City, Cebu, which costs ₱173.7 million.
But further analysis of the data revealed that the most expensive flood-control projects in Cebu are in Talisay City, and all are located along Mananga River, one of the major tributaries in Cebu.”
In short, even the article she brandished does not support her claim. Either she did not read it in full, or worse—she read it and deliberately misled the public. In either case, the conclusion is the same: intellectual dishonesty of the highest order.
And let us go deeper into the official record. The most expensive flood control project in Cebu Province is not in Mandaue City. It is in Barangay Talavera, Toledo City, project number 24H00007, with a contract cost of ₱212.229 million, implemented by JJ&J Construction & General Supply with Rebtrade International Corporation, started on March 26, 2024 and completed February 1, 2025. Another massive project stands in Barangay Campangga, Barili, for the Santa Ana River, with a contract cost of ₱183.333 million, started April 15, 2025 and scheduled for completion April 9, 2026.
These are DPWH records—public, verifiable, undeniable. That Atty. Regal failed to cite them reveals a damning truth: her argument was built not on research but on resentment.
And even granting her claim for the sake of debate, her logic collapses under technical scrutiny. Mandaue’s ₱173.3 million project spans 525.8 linear meters—more than half a kilometer—amounting to ₱329,593 per meter. Malabuyoc’s ₱96.49 million project, on the other hand, spans only 154 linear meters, costing ₱626,616 per meter. By engineering standards, Malabuyoc—not Mandaue—holds the ignoble title of “most expensive.”
So what does this say of Atty. Regal Oliva? That she cites selectively, reads incompletely, and argues inaccurately. And worse, she does so with the credibility of someone who, as former City Treasurer under dismissed mayor Jonas Cortes, presided over the ₱3-billion drainage debacle—where ₱1.5 billion remains unaccounted for. Did those funds disappear into bank vaults, earning interest while the city drowned? She has never answered.
And before I rest my case, let me remind Atty. Regal of her boast: that under her watch, Mandaue City was “Top 1 in tax collection.” Oh really? Then why did the city still cry out for basic services? Why did corruption rise to its highest level, why did funds mysteriously go missing, and why were constituents left in neglect? Who truly benefitted from this so-called “highest tax collection”? The answer is obvious: the pockets of your political boss, whose shoes you licked clean, who made you run for office—only for you to lose, and lose miserably.
Thus, let the public beware. What Regal presents are not facts, but fragments—twisted by bias, sharpened by bitterness, and aimed at the Ouanos with personal vengeance rather than professional integrity. She has never won a case in court, and now, she loses again in the court of truth.
In the end, Atty. Regal Oliva has not unmasked her enemies—she has unmasked herself: a lawyer without victories, a critic without credibility, and a public figure undone by her own words.
- Fausto Lucian
