CABIAO, Nueva Ecija – Mayor Gloria Crespo-Congco, along with her seven allies who were charged of allegedly falsifying council resolutions, branded on Monday as political harassment the petition for their suspension from office.
Lawyer Petronilo David, counsel of Congco, said the petition of Councilors Julito Wycoco and Rodrigo Rivera to have his client and the seven other respondents suspended should not be given due course by the Office of the Ombudsman.
Wycoco and Rivera wanted the respondents suspended saying their continued stay in office might prejudice the investigation of the case against the latter.
“They are custodians of the evidence which they may conceal or destroy and if not suspended, they will continue to falsify resolutions, misappropriate and misapply the town’s funds to the detriment of its people,” they said.
The two have earlier filed charges against Congco, Vice Mayor Ernesto Talens Jr. and six others for allegedly forging resolutions of the Sangguniang Bayan and illegal disbursement of P15.5 million worth of public funds.
Also charged on the complaint for falsification, malversation, gross misconduct and conduct prejudicial to the interest of the service were Councilors Danilo Bagan, Danilo Clemente, Dante Umali, Luisito Relucio and Jose Talens and SB Secretary Luisito Guevarra.
The respondents have denied the charges.
David said the move to have the eight suspended is devoid of merit because in the first place, the complainants were able to get copies of documents which they later made the basis in filing the charges.
“What documents are we going to destroy? They (complainants) already have copies of the documents so what is there to destroy?” he said.
David said the charges against Congco and her allies “are clearly a personal demolition job timed with the highly charged political atmosphere in the town.”
Commenting on the date of Resolution 30 which was made to appear as March 28 when no twin session was held on that day but instead on March 30, David said it was a petty case.
“It’s a harmless and unintended typographical error and does not constitute falsification of public documents.
When you falsify, you change the meaning of a particular document. Here, the contents were never changed,” he explained.
David said they are filing their counter-affidavits within 10 days.
