Charges and counter-charges rend the air

As the electoral campaign reaches a denoucement, charges and counter-charges are flying thick and fast. These include disqualification suits and airing of suspicions that a recuperating mayor may actually not be in the position to discharge his duties.

The most serious tiff was that between Tanjay City Vice Mayor Lawrence Teves and Mayor Baltazar Salma.

The city mayor had been hospitalized for two weeks but resumed discharging his executive functions after his absence.

Teves said he may file a petition for prohibition, mandamus or quo warranto with prayer for temporary restraining order against Mayor Salma.

Teves is also questioning the designation of the city administrator and the latter’s signing of checks on behalf of Salma.

Salma returned to work Wednesday. He was accompanied by his son and mayoralty candidate Neil Salma, councilor Rey Concepcion, his vice mayoralty tandem Nenita Rabaya and other supporters.

He issued a memorandum to take effect April 30, directing all department heads and employees to follow the official orders of Neil, except for those that pertain officially to the office of the vice mayor and the Sangguniang Panglunsod.

It also ignored all orders and memoranda by Teves despite the fact that the vice mayor claimed to have assumed as acting mayor for two weeks.

Oriental Negros Gov. George Arnaiz requested the Sangguniang Panlalawigan to set up an independent panel of doctors to assess the actual medical status of Mayor Selma.

Tesda boss vs handler

The most hilarious, albeit tragic, was the filing by Technical Education and Skills Development Authority Secretary Augusto "Boboy" Syjuco of a criminal complaint for extortion against his political consultant and lawyer, Alex Espino, and the latter’s son, Bacolod councilor Al Victor.

Panay News’ David Sinay claimed that the Syjuco complaint was filled before the prosecutor’s office Wednesday morning.

This, despite a series of messages from Espino that Syjuco was poised to issue a public apology and to withhold the filing of the complaint against him and his father.

My own daughter, Mate Espina, however, said any statement on the controversy must come directly from Syjuco and not from either Alex or Al Victor to preclude any misunderstanding later.

Espino reportedly dismissed the Syjuco complaint as "a bunch of lies, full of inconsistencies and falsehoods."

He also threatened to file a libel suit against Syjuco for calling him an extortionist.

Syjuco claimed in his complaint that Espino had asked him for P3 million to help fund the political machinery he had designed for his son.

Al Victor, a re-electionist councilor in Bacolod, was reportedly eyeing the possibility of running for vice mayor in the current polls.

Later, Espino reportedly followed up his request in a series of talks with Syjuco. Later, however, Espino reportedly wanted the P3 million by March.

The TESDA official also claimed that the budget for the candidacy of his wife, Rep. Judith Syjuco, did not even reach that amount.

Syjuco later thought that Espino’s repeated insistence on the P3 million already amounted to extortion because later, "I heard that he started to negotiate with our political opponents."

But on April 25, Espino went again to the Syjuco residence and issued an ultimatum that if the Cabinet official could not come up with the P3 million, he would be campaigning against Syjuco’s wife and would also expose him, for which his wife would be very angry at him.

On Jan. 29, he added that Al Victor accompanied Alex to the Syjuco residence and stressed that "kingahanland gid" (it’s really needed) and that they were going back to Bacolod in the afternoon ferry.

What is funny is the reconciliation between Espino and Syjuco of their stormy relationship. In 1998, Syjuco fired Espino for allegedly committing fraudulent transactions. But he rehired Espino in October 2006, contending that he believed that the technopol had already changed for the better.

Whatever will result from this will never be lived down either by the Syjucos or the Espinos.

Fourth district imbroglio

The fourth district race for Congress suddenly exploded into an orgy of charges and counter-charges of balatant violations of the Commission on Elections rule on posting of campaign materials in common poster areas, that could cause the forfeitured of the candidates’ victory in the polls.

Congressional candidate Jeffrey Ferrer submitted to the Comelec office photos of the oversized campaign posters of Camposano in Bago and Valladolid. And Camposano also submitted similar oversized posters of Ferrer taken from several places in the district.

Provincial Comelec supervisor Jessie Suarez said he will call for both Camposano and Ferrer on their charges and counter-charges. If these cannot resolved before the elections on May 14, this can still be continued after the balloting.

But there was the other development. Both sides in the controversy have been trumpeting that the Ombudsman has acted on complaints of grave abuse and misconduct against Mayor Evelio Leonardia and Vice Mayor Renecito Novero (candidate for congressman) and 14 other city officials, plus the rejoinder by the Ombudsman to Rep. Monico Puentevella to explain the Paglaum Stadium rehabilitation program and his failure to submit a detailed liquidation of the project.

City legal officer Allan Zamora dismissed the Ombudsman-Visayas order as sort of pro forma and did not immediately indict the city officials.

The complainant is retired police officer Victor Eduardo. Acting Deputy Ombudsman for the Visayas Virginia Palanca Santiago assigned an investigating officer and instructed him to submit an initial progress report within 10 days from the receipt of the case folder.

Zamora, meanwhile, also filed a complaint against Puentevella for the unliquidated and unsettled expenses in the rehabilitation of the Paglaum Sports Complex used in the Southeast Asian Games two years ago.

Well, as they point out, were these cases filed only for political purposes? The issues have been there for a long time and it is only now (as in the case of the Paglaum Stadium) that they resurrected for filing with the Ombudsman?

A positive development

But it’s not just political brickbats all over. Sometimes there are also major developments that strike the heart.

For example, the turnover by Taiwanese Ambassador Wu Hsing-Hsing of 34 reconditioned motorcycles to Bacolod City.

After turning them over to City Mayor Evelio Leonardia, the Taiwan envoy said they will also try to work for the donation of a firetruck to the city.

Leonardia said he is happy that the sisterhood relationship between the city and Taiwan forged during his first term as mayor in 1997 continues to bear fruits.

Taiwan earlier donated three dump trucks to the city.

Wu was accompanied by James Chang, He-Chung Huang, and Vicente Cheng, director of the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office Political Affairs Division.

The Taiwan envoy also said he will try to help promote Bacolod among the estimated 100,000 Taiwanese tourists who annually visit the Philippines.

Most prefer Bohol, Cebu, Subic, and Manila. But the inclusion of Bacolod could enable them to savor sights other than what they could see in the places they usually frequent, said Leonardia.

Well, at least, they are still talking about a lot of things other than just how to win the elections.