DUMANJUG Mayor Nelson Garcia accused Vice Mayor Guntrano Gica of several irregularities including hiring personnel without following proper selection process and spending P3 million from the town’s coffers during the latter’s stint as acting mayor.
Yesterday marked the end of the Garcia’s 60-day preventive suspension which was implemented on April 11 for pending charges of usurpation of authority.
In an interview, Garcia said the familiar faces of his trusted personnel at the Dumanjug Municipal Hall were no longer on duty after Gica fired them.
He said since the employees do not hold regular plantilla, it was easy for Gica to remove them from office and replace them with his allies.
“He (Gica) automatically fired them after 30 days because that’s the time when he’s allowed to do that under the Local Government Code,” he told Cebu Daily News.
On top of that, Gica allegedly filled up the vacant regular positions in the municipal government with “his people” which makes them hard to replace.
“The rules on the selection of these personnel were not even followed. That’s why I’m going to contest these illegal appointments,” added Garcia.
During his two-month stint as acting mayor, Gica allegedly tried to purchase four brand new dumptrucks, he said.
However, the transaction was not approved by the town’s bids and awards committee due to irregularities on the winning bidder and the truck units.
Aside from that, Garcia also accused Gica of doling out P350,000 from the municipality’s funds to his village chief allies.
Gica, who is affiliated with the Liberal Party (LP) in Cebu also allegedly spent money from the town’s coffers for his “despedida,” a day before Garcia was set to return to office, he said.
“Around P3 million was gone from the savings of the municipality in just two months. If it continued, maybe, we could have lost all the money we had,” said Garcia.
Related Stories:
Gov. Davide orders 60-day preventive suspension of Dumanjug mayor
Mayor Garcia no-show in usurpation case
Disclaimer: The comments uploaded on this site do not necessarily represent or reflect the views of management and owner of Cebudailynews. We reserve the right to exclude comments that we deem to be inconsistent with our editorial standards.
