Mayor Garcia no-show in usurpation case

Board member Peter John Calderon, Dumanjug acting mayor Guntrano Gica and PB Ace Binghay look at former 3rd district Congressman Pablo John Garcia, the legal council of his brother suspended Dumanjug Mayor Nelson Garcia as they prepare to go out of the conference room after their closed door preliminary conference.(CDN PHOTO/JUNJIE MENDOZA)

SUSPENDED Dumanjug Mayor Nelson Garcia was a no-show during the preliminary conference on the complaints filed against him by Vice Mayor Guntrano Gica at the Capitol session hall yesterday.

His counsel, former congressman Pablo John Garcia, said he advised his younger brother not to show up at the closed door conference to avoid a repeat of the near confrontation between him and Gica’s father, Edgar Gica.

This came as the younger Gica, now acting mayor, said he will file graft and falsification charges against Mayor Garcia before the Ombudsman-Visayas anytime this week.

Mayor Garcia earlier said the elder Gica swung a fist at him in a confrontation during the preliminary conference on the case that was scheduled last April 30. Gica’s camp denied this.

Vice Mayor Gica said the mayor should have attended the conference to speed up the investigation.

Usurpation

“I don’t think my father can do that (hit Garcia) given his age,” he said.

Pablo John said unlike the investigations handled by the Ombudsman and the Sandiganbayan, the PB committee on complaints are members of the Liberal Party (LP).

Garcia was suspended for 60 days by Cebu Gov. Hilario Davide III on charges of usurpation of authority after he appointed a municipal secretary to the council.

Gica said Emmilou Cabonillas Garcia, whom Mayor Garcia designated as secretary to the municipal council, received P14,000 in representation and transportation allowance (RATA) from the mayor’s office from July last year to last month.

Gica said that was illegal because only department heads and a municipal council secretary can receive RATA and Cabonillas is neither one.

Complaint

Gica also accused the mayor of committing corruption in several projects like the P34.3 million megadome project in barangay Poblacion in which a P732,500 consultancy fee didn’t appear in the program of works.

“I can substantiate my complaint against Garcia based on the documents that I have,” Gica said.
The vice mayor said he will file this complaint to the Provincial Board (PB).

As acting mayor, Gica said he tried to have Garcia’s office opened but the mayor’s secretary Lilian Garol has the key.

Gica said he wanted to open the mayor’s office after he received reports that several boxes of expired medicines were kept there.

Garol denied this, saying the antibiotics weren’t expired.