DUMANJUG Vice Mayor Rene Asentista said he will continue with building farm-to-market roads and a water supply system for the town after he assumed the mayoral post from Efren Gica last Wednesday.
Asentista disclosed this as former Dumanjug mayor Nelson Garcia urged him to “be his own man” and not be dictated on by Gica, who was served his dismissal notice by the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG).
Gica, a first term mayor who won in last year’s elections, was dismissed from service after he was found guilty of dishonesty and grave misconduct by the Ombudsman.
Garcia filed a complaint at the Ombudsman, accusing Gica of tampering a receipt issued as payment for dinner of barangay officials during a seminar.
Garcia said Gica claimed in his liquidation report that he spent P28,565 of the P50,000 cash advance to pay for the dinner.
But the receipt issued by the restaurant showed that only P11,435 was paid for the dinner.
Garcia also voiced his disapproval of Cebu Gov. Hilario Davide III’s public support of Gica, saying it was “uncalled for” since Gica was already dismissed.
Gica is Davide’s ally in the Cebu chapter of the Liberal Party (LP) which the governor chairs.
Garcia recalled that he was suspended for eight months by the Provincial Board (PB) and then dismissed by the Ombudsman for bypassing then vice mayor Gica when he appointed the municipal council secretary in violation of the Local Government Code.