Echiverri defiant
MANILA, Philippines — “I will not step down as mayor of Caloocan City.”
This was the response of Mayor Enrico “Recom” Echiverri in response stated in reply to the six-month preventive suspension ordered by the Office of the Ombudsman last Monday against him and two others for “non-payment” of the city employees’ contribution of more than P38 million to the Government Service Insurance System (GSIS).
Echiverri described the order as “baseless and highly irregular,” saying it was issued against him without giving him an opportunity in accordance with his constitutional right.
In a news conference announcing his decision, Echiverri was surrounded by the majority of the city councilors, and almost all barangay chairmen who all expressed their support for him.
Earlier, some 5,000 to 10,000 supporters of the mayor started gathering in front of the city hall at 3 p.m. last Monday when the news suspending him circulated.
The supporters held a vigil, and were later joined by the mayor and other city and barangay officials to show support to the beleaguered local chief executive.
The Office of the Ombudsman ordered the alleged suspension which stemmed from a case of grave misconduct filed by Vice Mayor Edgar “Egay” Erice in connection with the local government’s alleged non-payment of employees’ contribution to the GSIS.
“The case was railroaded, hindi na ba sila nagsisimba,” the mayor asked.
“I can’t just turn my back from the people of Caloocan City, who voted and trust me,” the mayor said.
He said he would fight for his rights as well as that of the Caloocan residents who voted for him because it is clear that he is just the innocent victim of some greedy politician coveting a position.
Echiverri said that he was shocked to learn about the suspension order handed down by Acting Ombudsman Orlando Casimiro since his administration has continued to pay employees’ contributions to the GSIS.
The Office of the Ombudsman’s decision to me was “railroaded, baseless, and highly irregular,” the mayor told reporters.
In reply to the complaint filed against him, Echiverri stated: the city of Caloocan has never been negligent for its contributions, the report of the P333-million is erroneous and complete falsehood as a result when the GSIS computer bogged down; and a reconciliation process with the GSIS has been completed.
The mayor also asked Ombudsman Casimiro to reconsider the order.
Although he did not mention any connection of the case with the President whom he said has so many problems to face, he however described these issue as “all political designed to malign him.”
The mayor said he has yet to receive the said complaint lodged by Vice Mayor Edgar Erice before Office of the Ombudsman regarding the GSIS issue, which was clearly “prioritized” given that it was only filed on July 7, 2011.
He said that Erice filed a “motion for preventive suspension” against him on July 11, 2011, which in turn was granted by Acting Ombudsman Casimiro last Sunday (July 17) or less than a week after the filing.
Echiverri said that he merely inherited the local government debt to the GSIS when he assumed the mayor’s post on July 1, 2004.
“When I assumed, malaki na ang utang ng local government sa GSIS, during my time all the contributions has been remitted with the GISIS,’ the mayor explained.
He also denied and laughed off speculations that he had paid some R20 million just to get a temporary restraining order (TRO). “Walang katotohanan yan,” the mayor said.
During his watch, the city government has not been remiss in forwarding the city hall employees’ contributions.
He said that on February 7, 2011, GSIS President and General Manager Robert Vergara reached an accord with the city government to form a reconciliation team that would iron out the records of the two offices.
“We want to straighten out the records of both GSIS and Caloocan because they’ve been erroneously seeking payment for those employees in their list who are already dead, retired, transferred, with finished terms and with wrong names,” the mayor said.
He added, that the debt was already “in the billions” when he took over the city’s top post in 2004, with the debt including unpaid GSIS contributions spanning the two previous city administrations.
“I’ve been remitting contributions to the GSIS on a monthly basis during my entire term as city mayor, a fact that is reflected through the receipts issued by the particular agency,” the mayor said.
Echiverri said that his administration has long been in talk with the GSIS management in coming up with a non-burdensome payment scheme for the debt that they had inherited from past mayors.
Aside from the mayor, also ordered suspended by the Office of the Ombudsman are; City Treasurer Evelina Garma, City Budget Officer Jesusa Garcia and City Accountant Edna Centeno, who were also present during the newsconference.
Meanwhile, the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) will implement Echeiverri’s preventive suspension within five days, Secretary Jesse M. Robredo said Tuesday.
“We will not speed up the implementation order, nor slow it down just for Echiverri,” said Robredo, fanning out rumors that the DILG is holding off the suspension order because the Caloocan mayor jumped on board the Liberal Party (LP). (With a report from Czarina Nicole O. Ong)
