Davide dared to suspend ally

CEBU, Philippines - Dumanjug Mayor Nelson Gamaliel Garcia has filed a string of administrative complaints before the Cebu Provincial Board against his vice mayor and urged Governor Hilario Davide III to also place his partymate under preventive suspension.

Garcia has accused Vice Mayor Efren Guntrano Gica of dishonesty, misconduct, and abuse of authority. The alleged violations were committed by Gica while serving as acting mayor while Garcia was preventively suspended by Davide because of an administrative complaint filed by Gica before the Provincial Board.

Garcia found out that Gica allegedly falsified an official receipt issued by a Chinese-themed restaurant in Cebu City. Based on the document obtained by Garcia, Gica allegedly altered the receipt from its original amount of P11, 435.00 to P21, 435.00.

The amount was spent for a dinner with some of the town’s barangay officials.

“I would like to see if the PB fair sila nga dili lang LP ang ilang labanan. Bisan Liberal Party pa, ila pud suspensohon. Kini, the evidence of guilt is very strong. The document will speak for itself. By this alone, I think the complaints committee should also recommend to the governor the preventive suspension of my Vice Mayor,” Garcia said.

“Kining akong pag-file is a challenge to the PB whether they will be doing their job kay otherwise they would be answerable to the people who voted for them,” he added.

Most PB members are partymates of Gica and Davide.

Davide said he would act accordingly, upon the recommendation of the investigating committee and the PB.

“We will always look into the merit of the case. Katong pag-issue nako sa suspension (for Garcia), I even based it sa recommendation sa finding of the committee and the PB. Para nako it was fair,” he added.

Garcia returned to his office as mayor on June 11 after serving the 60-day preventive suspension over an alleged usurpation of authority.

Gica, who came to the governor’s office on Thursday and presented his own documents, was told by Davide to use the documents as his evidence and just answer the complaint filed by Garcia before the Office of the Ombudsman last week.

Garcia accused Gica of malversation of funds, falsification of official documents, and violation of Republic Act 3019 or the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act which also stemmed from the alleged tampering of receipts.

In his complaint filed before the PB, Garcia recounted that Gica, who served as acting mayor in Dumanjug from April 11 to June 10 this year, obtained a cash advance of P50,000 from the municipal treasurer intended for a seminar of barangay officials on April 25, 2104.

Garcia claimed that the records of the restaurant show that there were only 39 persons who attended the dinner set by Gica after the seminar.

He further stated that the total cost of that dinner only amounted to P11,435.00. But on June 2, 2014, when Gica made a liquidation report of his cash advance, the amount was allegedly bloated to P21,435.00 instead of P11,425, with one digit allegedly altered by Gica.

Gica belied the accusation, saying that he could not imagine himself doing the act being alleged by Garcia and that the liquidation went a thorough process.

He added that he had no hold over the money since he assigned another employee to take charge of the transactions. (FREEMAN)