CLARK FREEPORT – A petition to recall Mayor Dante Torres of Guagua, Pampanga is now snowballing with some 2,000 signatures gathered by the mayor’s own partymate in the Liberal Party (LP) spearheading for his ouster.
Juan Pring, losing LP vice mayoralty bet in the town, said he felt confident that the petition for recall of Torres will be able to gather the signatures of the needed 20 percent of the total number of voters in the town.
During the Balitaan media forum organized by the Capampangan in Media, Inc. (CAMI) in cooperation with the Clark Development Corp. (CDC) and the Social Security System (SSS) at the Bale Balita here last Friday, Pring said he withdrew his support from his former running mate because the latter allegedly got mired in corruption instead of correcting the mistakes
of the past. “It’s a total loss of confidence,” said Pring.
A case initiated by Pring was filed before the Office of the Ombudsman in connection with the alleged graft-ridden construction of the town’s abattoir which remains inoperative even if construction stopped in 2009.
Pring scored Torres’ issuance of Memorandum Circular No. 10 regulating “the procedure on releasing municipal records , documents and other information” which practically put a lid on everything and throwing out of the window the government’s thrust of transparency and proper accountability in line with the Aquino administration’s “Tuwid na Daan (Straight path)” slogan.
Pring said the town’s slaughterhouse project costs P25 million. Another questionable project is the town’s BOT (build-operate-transfer) scheme for the renovation and operation of the existing Guagua public market, a popular source of fresh seafoods in the province since it is strategically located along a river.
Pring said the total project cost for the renovation of the public market is P80 million but the contractor, MQUAD Development and Property Management, Inc., was only registered to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on July 11, 2013 with an authorized capital of P20 million and paid up capital of only P1,250,000.
He said it obviously lacks the needed capital to embark on a multi-million peso project as well as credibility due to the absence of a track record. When asked if he tried to seek a dialogue with the mayor, Pring said he was turned down three times by Torres’ “cordon sanitaire composed of 10 advisers.”
Guagua has close to 55,000 registered voters and about 11,000 voters’ signatures or 20 percent is needed to recall the mayor. Torres defeated incumbent Mayor Ricardo Rivera, who ran under the local party Kambilan, by only 425 votes. Torres cannot be reached for comment as of press time.
