CITY OF SAN FERNANDO – Recently-dismissed Mexico Mayor Teddy Tumang sees politics in his implication in the P3.6-billion worth of shabu seized in a warehouse in Barangay San Jose Malino, Mexico last Sept. 27.
This, even as he denied any involvement in illegal drugs and expressed fears for his life and for the safety of his family.
Tumang said he was puzzled after he was summoned to appear at the hearing of the House committee on dangerous drugs last Monday on the anti-drug operations in Pampanga.
“I was dismissed from office by the Ombudsman last August, the lease of the warehouse was on Sept. 1, and the raid on Sept. 27. Clearly, I was not the incumbent mayor at the time,” he said during a press conference on Wednesday, Oct. 11, at Dencio’s, Laus Group Complex here.
Tumang raised the issue of earlier raids on illegal drugs in Pampanga, specially citing a shabu laboratory in Arayat town: “Nasa 3rd District yan, bakit hindi nagpa-imbestiga ang congressman?” referencing House Senior Deputy Speaker Aurelio “Dong” Gonzales Jr.
“Napaalis na ako (from the Mexico mayorship), ayaw pa akong tigilan. Sinabi ko lang na hahabol akong congressman, ginanito na ako,” he said.
Gonzales who is now on his third and last term is said to be grooming his daughter, current 3rd District board member Alyssa Michaela “Mica” Gonzales as successor at the House.
“Congressman, hindi ko pinasukan yan (drugs), kilala mo ako,” Tumang called out to Gonzales. “Kung may galit ka sa akin, ilagay mo sa tama. Alam ko, makapangyarihan ka, kaya dapat gamitin mo ito sa tama, sa mabuti, sa walang nasasaktan.”
Coming in the wake of the filing of graft cases against Gonzales by the president of the Association of Barangay Chairmen of Mexico, Tumang was asked if he sees Gonzales’ hand behind the House probe. His response: “Nasa akin na lang yun. Alam niyo naman kung sino. Alam ng mga tao kung sino.”
He lamented though that the people of Mexico ultimately suffer from these.
“Nalulungkot ang mga mammayan ng Mexico sa mga pangyayaring ito. Kilala ako bilang mayor, nagsisilbi, tumutulong, napaunlad ang bayan na sumusunod na sa City of San Fernando in terms of development,” he said. “With these happenings investors now will become hesitant (to come in).”
Tumang said he found it ironic that he was dismissed from office at the time Mexico received the Seal of Good Local Governance, its sixth since 2017 and adjudged by the Department of the Interior and Local Government as Best Implementer of locally funded projects for 2022.
The LGU is also among the 17 aspirants for the Gawad Galing Pook from the private sector-led Galing Pook Foundation for its Mexico Community Hospital innovations as the first municipal government-run hospital after the 1991 devolution.
The establishment of the community hospital was an initiative of Tumang.
Challenge
In the same presser, Tumang called on President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr., House Speaker Ferdinand Martin Romualdez, the Department of Public Works and Highways and the Commission on Audit to initiate an investigation of flood control projects in the 3rd District of Pampanga alleged to have been constructed by A.D. Gonzales Jr. Construction & Trading Inc., allegedly owned by the congressman and his immediate family.
This, amidst allegations of the barangay officials of Mexico of being sub-standard in their construction.
Tumang hurled a challenge to Gonzales: “Kung mapatunayang hindi putul-putol ang mga sheet pile na ginamit, hindi na ako hahabol (for congressman). Kung putul-putol naman, mahiya naman sana siya (Gonzales) at dapat lamang na managot.”
Calls to Gonzales for his side were unreturned as of uploading time. Punto! is open to the congressman, pursuant to his right to reply. Punto News Team
