Binmaley mayor willing to resign over Malampaya fund
IF DETRACTORS CAN PROVE ANOMALY
BINMALEY–Mayor Simplicio Rosario said he is willing to resign from his post if his detractors can show proof he benefited from the Malampaya fund, portions of which he and 16 other mayors of Pangasinan allegedly received.
In a press conference Wednesday, Rosario discussed the Malampaya fund scam after learning that some people believed close to the former town officials were spreading malicious lies in social media such as a blog against him.
“All these irresponsible statements were concocted by people with the evil intention to place me in a very ridiculous situation, embarrass me in front of the people of Binmaley,” Rosario said, announcing that he already submitted his affidavit to the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) claiming that his signatures purportedly appearing in Malampaya fund-related documents were forged.
He said even the letter head affixed in those documents were fake.
PROOF
The mayor said he also learned that three people from Binmaley went to the NBI office in Manila to supposedly disprove the mayor’s affidavit, but they did not succeed.
Rosario also circulated during the press conference a photocopy of a media report quoting a statement in the affidavit of a former employee of Janette Lim Napoles indicating that the signatures of all the local government officials were forged.
Quoted was Merlina Suñas, a former employee of Napoles who turned whistle-blower against her former boss saying that “no delivery was made to the LGUs and all the money was remitted to Napoles”.
The LGUs were supposed to be recipients of agricultural kits that were supposed to have been supplied by one of the non-government organizations (NGOs) identified with Napoles.
In her affidavit subscribed before the NBI, Suñas said the signatures of Department of Agrarian Reform Undersecretary Narciso Nieto and the heads of the NGOs in the tripartite Memorandum of Agreement for the distribution of the P900 million Malampaya fund were genuine “but those of the LGU officials were forged”.
Aside from Rosario, the others in the list are former Mayors Amadeo Perez Jr. of Urdandeta City, now chairman of the Manila Economic Cooperation Office (MECO); Jopse Ferdinand Calimlim of Mapandan, now vice governor of Pangasinan; Ricardo Revita of Rosales, among others.
Other officials present during the press conference were Vice Mayor Pedro Merrera Jr., three municipal councilors, and all department heads.
SUSPENSION
“I know that you know who you are behind this smear campaign and untruthful accusation against me,” Rosario told the media.
Rosario said the attacks over social media is “plain smear campaign” which started after he imposed a 60-day preventive suspension on Municipal Accountant Gertrudez Reyes and Municipal Budget Officer Jeffrey de los Angeles pending the investigation of the cases of dishonesty and neglect of duty filed against them.
The two have appealed their suspension before the regional office of the Civil Service Commission, which forwarded these appeals to the CSC central office.
Reyes and De los Angeles, with the aid of their lawyer, Atty. Manuel Manuel, also filed an appeal before the Regional Trial Court in Lingayen.
The preventive suspension was on account of the almost exhausted budgets for gasoline in the Office of the Mayor and municipal administrator, and the financial assistance for indigents and others.
Municipal Administrator Armenio Escat, who was present during the press conference, said the appeal made by the two respondents before the CSC and before the RTC does not automatically stop their preventive suspension.
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