Dumanjug Mayor Efren Guntrano Gica tours Governor Gwendolyn Garcia inside the D. Jakosalem Plaza during the town’s leg in the Suroy-Suroy Sugbo on November 17. (Dumanjug PIO)
(Updated Story)
CEBU CITY, Philippines — The camp of Dumanjug Mayor Efren Guntrano “Gungun” Gica has questioned the propriety of the arrest warrant issued against him on Wednesday, January 8, 2020, over a graft and corruption case.
Lawyer Edgar Gica, the father of the mayor, told CDN Digital that the arrest warrant served by the Dumanjug police on his son on Wednesday afternoon was issued by Branch 59 of the Regional Trial Court in San Carlos City, Negros Occidental.
“The RTC in San Carlos City, Branch 59, is not the court of proper venue for this so the warrant of arrest is highly questionable,” Lawyer Gica said.
Marna Gica, the mayor’s mother, likewise clarified that Mayor Gica was never arrested, as he voluntarily went to the Regional Trial Court in Barili town to post bail after being handed the arrest order.
“Arrested is different from niadto sa (him going to the) Barili court to post bail. I felt it necessary for me to defend the word arrest and post bail,” Mrs. Gica said.
Mrs. Gica issued this statement in an interview on Wednesday night to refute an earlier report of CDN Digital that the mayor was arrested and later posted bail of P30,000.
“Being served the order of arrest does not necessarily mean nga gidakop ka (that you are arrested). When you are being held arrested, it means either giposasan ka or gidala ka sa prisohan (you were handcuffed or held in jail),” she added.
The case against the mayor, which was filed by his nemesis, former mayor Nelson Garcia at the Office of the Ombudsman in the Visayas, stemmed from the alleged “questionable” hiring of Manila-based musician Bamboo as performer during the town fiesta celebration in October 2016.
Lawyer Gica said the complaint claimed that his son’s act of allegedly persuading the Bids and Awards Committee to hire Bamboo as a performer during the October 4, 2016 fiesta constituted graft and corruption.
The lawyer said they knew that a complaint was lodged against his mayor son before the Office of the Ombudsman in the Visayas but they did not receive a copy of the case that was filed by the Ombudsman Visayas before the San Carlos City RTC Branch 59.
According to the police report at the Dumanjug Police Station, Mayor Gica was served by the order of arrest at around 2 p.m. at his home in Barangay Sima, not at the municipal hall as earlier reported.
“Gi-serve kay kinahanglan man gyud i-serve kay nadawat man sa police unya naa ra man si Mayor Gungun sa Dumanjug unya ang nakadawat sa order of arrest hepe man sa Dumanjug. Gungun has to also respect the authority of his chief of police that is why he posted a cash bail bond of P30,000,” the lawyer said.
Mayor Gica has posted a cash bail bond of P30,000 at Branch 60 of the Barili RTC after he issued an undertaking to furnish the court a copy of the case against him once the San Carlos City RTC releases it.