Muntinlupa officials twit Masangkay rap

Muntinlupa City officials branded yesterday as irresponsible, the claim of mayoralty candidate Elizabeth "Ate Bess" Aguilar-Masangkay that 20 percent of the city’s funds goes to waste due to corruption.

City administrator Henry Reyes dared Masangkay to personally check the records of the city’s budget and treasury offices to see if there is any irregularity in the city government’s transactions.

"All our transactions here are above board. Every big city government contract is bidded out. We observe transparency in all our transactions," Reyes said.

"I advise Ms. Masangkay to guard against making such irresponsible insinuations. If she has accusations, she should show her evidence and not issue mere insinuations of wrongdoing that destroy the reputations of innocent officials," Reyes said.

Reyes made the statements in answer to public allegations of Masangkay that the city administration of Mayor Jaime Fresnedi was ridden with corruption.

She had called on Fresnedi to account for the city’s almost P1 billion budget for year 2000 and the P1.051 billion budget for 2001.

Masangkay is again challenging Fresnedi for the mayoralty this May. She lost to Fresnedi in the 1998 polls.

For his part, Fresnedi urged Masangkay to be circumspect in hurling accusations. "She should not damage other people’s reputations in her desire to win the elections," Fresnedi said. – Rainier Allan Ronda