LEGAZPI CITY: Albay Gov. Edcel Greco "Grex" Lagman said the accusations thrown against him by former village chieftain Alwin Nimo of Anislag, Daraga town is baseless and purely politically motivated because he is running for the gubernatorial post in 2025.

"This is directly connected to the 2025 election. This is politically motivated. The politics in Albay is brewing. My conscience is clean, the accusation is baseless. We are ready for any legal battle," he said.

Nimo, a self-confessed bagman for the illegal numbers game jueteng, accused Lagman of graft, corruption, bribery, and violating the Code of Conduct and Ethical Standards for Public Officials and Employees and Republic Act 9287 (an Act Increasing the Penalties for Illegal Numbers Game) before the Ombudsman on Monday.

In the 35-page complaint, Nimo claimed that he initially delivered P60,000 per week to Lagman from August 2019 to June 2022 when the latter was the vice governor.

Lagman allegedly demanded the "protection money" from jueteng operators and received as much as P8 million in bribes.

Lagman, however, denied the charges thrown against him.

"A vice governor is only a spare tire. Nimo was introduced to me by the former Albay governor Al Francis Bichara. He was a former barangay captain. A mere village chieftain without a clout from the media brought with him national media when he filed a case against me in the Ombudsman? Somebody is financing him," he said in a press briefing here on Wednesday afternoon.

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