AFTER serving a two-month suspension, it was Dumanjug Mayor Nelson Garcia’s turn to file charges against political rival Vice Mayor Guntrano Gica before the Ombudsman-Visayas.
In a press conference yesterday, Garcia accused Gica of falsifying a receipt of a Cebu City restaurant where he hosted a dinner sponsored by the Dumanjug municipal government last April.
He presented a purchase order which Gica submitted to the municipal treasurer’s office for liquidation along with a “true copy” of the receipt. Garcia’s lawyer was his father former Cebu 2nd District Rep. Pablo “Pabling” Garcia.
“When he (Gica) sat as acting mayor for 60 days, there were a lot of illegal transactions that we observed…There will be more,” said the mayor, a stalwart of the family’s One Cebu Party.
Gica vehemently denied the allegations and said he is willing to answer the complaints.
Administrative complaint
“As far as I know, we followed proper procedure and I do not remember falsifying anything, especially a receipt,” he said in a phone interview.
Charges of malversation of public funds, falsification of official document and violation of the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act were filed against Gica before the Ombudsman-Visayas yesterday morning.
The mayor said he also plans to file a separate administrative complaint against Gica before the Cebu Provincial Board (PB).
Garcia served a 60-day suspension that lasted from April to June this year for pending charges of usurpation of authority filed against him by Gica.
In his complaint affidavit, Garcia said Gica obtained a P50,000 cash advance from the municipal treasurer to pay for the meals of Dumanjug barangay officials who attended a Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) seminar in Cebu City on April 25.
On the same day, Gica and 39 officials had a buffet dinner at a Chinese restaurant in the city for P200 per head with an P11,435 bill.
Gica submitted for liquidation purposes the purchase order from the restaurant with the bill at P21,435. He also declared that a hundred people came to the buffet dinner.
“I went to Ding Qua Qua and the owner gave me their copy of the receipt. It was only P11,000,” Garcia said.
Garcia said the meals which Gica specified in the purchase order were not served in a Chinese restaurant.
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