CEBU, Philippines - Suspended Dumanjug Mayor Nelson Gamaliel Garcia has withdrawn another administrative case he filed against his vice mayor, now acting mayor Efren Guntrano Gica after the Provincial Board alleged failed to act on it.
Garcia, in his manifestation, lamented that the body and its investigating committee, whose members are allies of Gica in the Liberal Party, disregard the provision in the Local Government Code and the PB’s rules and procedures that govern investigation against elective officials by not requiring Gica to file his answer to the complaint.
Garcia cited Section 62 of the Code and Section 6 of the PB’s rules which mandate PB to require a respondent to submit his verified answer within 15 days from receipt of the copy of the complaint.
“Strangely, if not mysteriously, the presiding officer sent the notice to file answer to respondent Vice Mayor Gica only on April 20, 2014 or three months after the filing of the complaint. Apparently, this is because the presiding officer and members of the committee on complaints and investigation are respondent Vice Mayor Gica’s colleagues in the liberal party,” he stated.
Gica reportedly filed his motion for leave to file and to admit the verified answer only in the second week of June 2014, which prompted Garcia to file an opposition.
Garcia said his opposition has not yet been acted upon either by the committee on complaints and investigation or by the PB as a whole.
“In view of all the facts and circumstance surrounding this case, complainant (Garcia) is convinced that he cannot obtain justice and fair play in the prosecution of his case before this committee because of its manifest and almost obscene bias and partiality in favor of their party-colleague, Vice Mayor Gica,” he said.
Garcia added that continuing with this case before the committee on complaints and investigation and with the Sangguninang Panlalawigan as a whole “is a needless and wasteful exercise in futility.”
The complaint filed by Garcia stemmed from Gica’s appointment of a secretary to the municipal council without the former declaring first the position vacant as provided in the law.
The FREEMAN tried to call Board Member Arleigh Sitoy, the chairman of the PB’s investigating committee, but calls were left unanswered.
In April this year, Garcia withdrew a dishonesty case he filed against Gica, but the PB ‘rejected’ it, saying it is bound to investigate administrative case “until the resolution of the issues raised are concluded” and that the withdrawal does not automatically result to the dismissal of the case.
Garcia is currently serving his six-month suspension imposed upon him by the Provincial Board as penalty for the grave abuse of authority case filed against him by Gica over the appointment of a secretary to the municipal council- a power that lies with the vice mayor. (FREEMAN)