Zaldy unearths Pompee's raps
La Viña insists charges are rehashed, already debunked
CAGAYAN DE ORO City mayor Oscar Moreno may have kept his speech during the campaign rally simple, focusing only on his accomplishments and plans, but his ally City Councilor Zaldy Ocon did not hold back against mayoralty candidate and Moreno's rival, Jose Gabriel "Pompee" La Viña during the opening salvo of their party on Saturday.
However, La Viña maintained he has zero graft and corruption cases as evidenced by the clearances from the Office of the Ombudsman, Sandiganbayan, and Civil Service, during his short stints as commissioner of the Social Security System (SSS), and undersecretary of of the Department of Tourism and Department of Agriculture, respectively.
Ocon threw accusations against La Viña, about how he allegedly
overpriced the media package rates to promote SSS programs to various television and radio stations, and also an estafa complaint against him.
Ocon alleged that La Viña proposed a media budget worth P26,095,703.00 for several SSS media placements. But the re-electionist councilor also showed canvass offers from the media entities where La Viña wanted the SSS media placements indicate a much lower price at P9,395,203.00. This means, he said, that La Viña may have allegedly overpriced the project by P13,556,000.
Ocon’s document also included an incident report where La Viña “manifested conduct unbecoming of a government official and a petition for his ouster by SSS employees. La Viña served as commissioner of the SSS from November 2016 to February 2018.
After his P26-million proposal was disapproved due to objections from the Public Affairs and Special Events Division of the SSS, La Viña allegedly subjected its key officers to verbal abuse, per incident report dated 19 September 2017.
Ocon also said he has copy of a complaint
against La Viña for a P22,000,000 estafa case.
“Naghilom lang ko pero iya man kong gipakapin kay kuno si Zaldy Ocon adik, iya kuno kong dakpon, basin in love lang siya nako. Kung gipakaulawan nila ang mayor, sama ra nga gipakaulawan ako kay pareha mi ug partido,” Ocon said.
(I was just silent, but La Viña made a remark that Zaldy Ocon is said to be an addict, and he wanted me arrested. Maybe he is just in love with me. If they were able to humiliate mayor Moreno, it is just the same he humiliated me because we belong to the same party)
Ocon belongs to the local chapter of Partido Demokratikong Pilipino (PDP)-Laban, under Team OKKA - referring to Moreno, with re-electionist vicemayor Raineir Joaquin “Kikang” Uy, 1st District representative re-electionist Rolando “Klarex” Uy, and Association of Barangay Captains chairman Yam Lam “Alam” Lim, who is running for 2nd District representative.
However, La Viña dismissed these allegations and instead reminded Ocon and his party that their head, Moreno, has more cases pending at the courts.
“In contrast, Ocon’s master mayor Moreno - has more than 100 cases filed against him, three for Plunder, including the 22 for which he is undergoing trial at the Sandiganbayan,” La Viña said.
“He is due for suspension by the Sandiganbayan as early as tomorrow (April 2). The rest of his cases are at the Ombudsman who has ordered his dismissal several times, the Supreme Court, Office of the President and the Comelec (Commission on Election). Only a handful have been dismissed, not most of them as his camp would have us believe,” he added.
Meanwhile, La Viña said the SSS allegations are “old rehashed propaganda by the SSS Mafia” after he filed vases against them.
“Not a single case has ever been filed by them against me, something they would have definitely done by now if there was any basis to do so,” he said.
The mayoralty candidate said the president has long cleared him of the allegations, and even promoted him instead as Undersecretary of Tourism. Estafa case
On the other hand, the estafa case against him dismissed, La Viña claimed.
The case was filed by Anna May Singh Timbol from Quezon City. The complainant alleged that she was convinced by La Viña to buy the latter’s majority shares from his two corporations, amounting to P22 million. The said corporations were Kia Diliman, Inc., and Texhoma Trading Corporation. The case stemmed from a 2012 transaction.
In Tambol’s affidavit of complaint, stamped as received by the Office of the Prosecutor on March 4, 2014, she claimed that when she assumed as President and Chief Executive Officer of Kia Diliman after buyin La Viña’s shares, she noticed that there were no records of previous transactions.
“All file drawers were empty except for unused official receipts, invoices, vehicle delivery receipts, and provisional receipts for future transactions,” the affidavit stated.
Tambol also learned that Kia Diliman is not engaged in a dealership, which is contrary to what was La Viña allegedly said, and the same company has made some violations to the Security and Exchange Commission.
But La Viña clarified that these were old issues, and that the complainant’s daughter also faced cases.
“In contrast, Ms. Singh’s daughter is currently on trial for 2 criminal cases filed by the fiscal; for perjury and falsification of public documents. In any case, all these were a result of a private transaction that did not involve any government funds,” La Viña said. (PJ Orias)