Estancia mayor sues vice mayor, town councilors

By Rjay Zuriaga Castor

Estancia Mayor Mary Lynn “Chic” Mosqueda has filed criminal and administrative complaints against the vice mayor and other members of the Sangguniang Bayan (SB) before the Office of the Ombudsman-Visayas.

The complaint targets Estancia Vice Mayor Mark Joseph J. Cordero and SB members Bobby C. Gadayan, Benjie A. Montero, Vicente L. Calibre, Rey D. Bataga, Rowena A. Placencia, Rene D. Aclaro, Louigi Donn I. Cordero, Jacqueline M. Gealon, Emmanuel J. Tingson, Sangguniang Kabataan President Mary Margareth N. Uy, Liga ng mga Barangay President Sancho Navarro, and SB Secretariat Shaden H. Alapasan.

Atty. Oscar Tagamolila, the legal counsel for Mayor Mosqueda, told the Daily Guardian that the administrative complaints are for abuse of authority, while the criminal charges pertain to violations of Republic Act (RA) 3019, or the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act.

“These are founded on the slashing, deletion, and reduction of the municipal mayor’s budget for the projects in the town,” he said in an interview on Monday, May 20.

Tagamolila explained that the mayor discovered the alleged budget reductions in the proposed budget from the executive office.

The legal counsel added that the complaints were filed in February this year, and they have already received an order from the Ombudsman requesting the mayor’s reply to the respondents’ counter-affidavits.

He noted that they cannot discuss the merits of the case due to the sub judice rule, which restricts them from giving comments and disclosures pertaining to pending judicial proceedings.

“This is in the local government and the money is supposed to be spent,” Tagamolila remarked.

Among the points raised in relation to the violation of the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act is “manifest partiality.”

“When you act by reason of manifest partiality, gross negligence, if you act in that way, that may result in a corrupt act. That is the allegation, but it still depends on the determination of the Ombudsman,” he said.

Under Section 3 of RA 3019, any act that causes undue injury to any party, including the government, or gives any private party unwarranted benefits, advantages, or preferences through manifest partiality, bad faith, or negligence in official duties, is considered a corrupt practice.