Sanchez: Ombud complaint a case of mistaken identity

PROVINCIAL Board (PB) Member Grecilda “Gigi” Sanchez said that the complaint filed last week before the Office of the Ombudsman against her over the alleged failure to declare a piece of land she allegedly owns in her Statement of Assets, Net Worth and Liabilities (SALN) was a case of “mistaken identity.”

She said that the lot in question, in Barangay Kalunasan, Cebu City, isn’t hers, but her cousin’s, Rosario “Tata” Sanchez.

“Now, they’re asking why I didn’t include that in my SALN. Why would I? I’m not the type to claim the properties of other people. It’s not ‘Gigi,’ but ‘Tata.’ They must have been confused,” she told Cebu Daily News in a phone interview yesterday.

Gigi Sanchez was referring to the complaint filed by Florentino Osorio, a Toledo resident, last week asking the Ombudsman to investigate PB Member Sanchez for allegedly not declaring in her SALN the house she allegedly owns in Barangay Kalunasan.

Osorio alleged in his complaint that the house in Barangay Kalunasan is also questionable because it stands on a property which used to be owned by the Cebu provincial government.

She said Zaballero should be held liable for conflict of interest, dishonesty, and grave misconduct, as well as for violating the Anti-Graft and Corrupt

Practices Act, and the Code of Conduct and Ethical Standards for Public Officials and Employees.

’MISINFORMED ACT’

But PB Member Sanchez said her cousin Tata owns the house.

She said Tata, sister of Busay Councilman Yody Sanchez, has been working at the Provincial Treasurer’s Office since 2000.

Sanchez said her cousin has been a Capitol employee far longer than she has been in politics and that the latter has also been the municipal treasurer of Aloguinsan.

The complaint, Sanchez claimed, was a “misinformed act” orchestrated by her political opponents to malign her.

She challenged her opponents to “go ahead and file charges,” but also called on them to “get some truth” on the matter.