REP. GWENDOLYN Garcia’s comeback bid for Cebu governor has hit a snag.
Veteran lawyer Edgar Gica, a staunch critic of the Garcias, has asked the Commission on Elections (Comelec) in Manila to cancel the legislator’s Certificate of Candidacy (COC) for governor for purportedly making a false claim in the document.
In a petition filed last Monday, Gica argued that Garcia made it appear in her COC that she was not held liable for any case that carries the accessory penalty of perpetual disqualification from holding public office which has become final and executory.
“Her COC should be denied for willfully making a false representation of a material fact in her COC, particularly in item 22 of the COC, and for misrepresenting her eligibility to run for public office,” said Gica, the father of Dumanjug town Mayor Efren “Gungun” Gica.
Cebu Daily News tried but failed to reach Garcia through the phone on Tuesday.
Item 22 of the COC forms posed the question “Have you ever been found liable for an offense which carries with it the accessory penalty of perpetual disqualification to hold public office which has become final and executory?”
Gica said Garcia answered ‘no’ in her COC notwithstanding the fact that she was ordered dismissed from service by the Office of the Ombudsman after she was found liable for an administrative offense.
In January 2018, the Office of the Ombudsman found Garcia administratively liable for the P24.47 million project to backfill submerged portions of the controversial P98-million Balili property in Barangay Tinaan, Naga City without the authority from the Provincial Board while she was still Cebu governor.
Garcia was meted a penalty of dismissal from service and perpetual disqualification from holding public office.
But when the order was brought to then House Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez for enforcement, since Garcia is now a member of the House of Representatives, he did not implement the order, saying it was violative of the Constitution.
Whether or not the penalty will be implemented is now in the hands of House Speaker Glorial Macapagal Arroyo. But Arroyo, in a visit in Cebu over the weekend, also said she would not enforce the dismissal order.
The case stemmed from a complaint filed by Cebu Gov. Hilario Davide III, Vice Gov. Agnes Magpale and the late Provincial Board Member Arleigh Jay Sitoy.
The Ombudsman said that Garcia was not authorized by the Provincial Board to enter into contracts with ABF Construction for the supply and delivery of backfilling materials for the submerged and mangrove portions of the lot.
During Garcia incumbency as governor of Cebu, the Capitol released a total of P24,468,927.66 to ABF Construction for the supply and deliver of the backfilling materials.
Garcia filed a motion for reconsideration before the Ombudsman but it was dismissed last July 18.
Garcia went to the Court of Appeals (CA) and filed a petition for review, with a prayer for the issuance of the Temporary Restraining Order (TRO) or a Writ of Injunction.
The CA denied the prayer for a TRO and instead ordered Davide, Magpale and the Office of the Ombudsman to comment on the Petition for Review.