Thursday, April 19, 2007 Mayor's ex-wife denies affair with Moreno By Stephen Capillas
THE ongoing election campaign battles between the camps of incumbent Misamis Oriental Gov. Oscar Moreno and his rival for the post, Misamis Oriental Second Dist. Rep. Augusto Baculio, just waded deeper into "personal waters territory."
This after Moreno obtained a phone patch statement from Mary Ann Maslog, the controversial ex-wife of incumbent Talisayan Mayor Rommel Maslog, broadcast before a crowd in a campaign sortie in Barangay Sta. Ines, Talisayan town in Misamis Oriental Tuesday evening.
In response, Baculio's media handlers dismissed the phone patch disclosure and renewed allegations of corruption and immorality against Moreno.
They accused Moreno of having an affair with Maslog's wife that resulted to the latter's marital problems and eventual dissolution.
But during his 30-minute radio spot Wednesday, Moreno and campaign handler, Provincial Social Welfare and Development Officer Teddy Sabuga-a, disclosed that they broadcast a statement from Mary Ann Maslog, disputing the allegations.
Moreno played a recording of Mary Ann's statements in which the latter disproved her ex-husband's claims and appealed to him to stop parlaying these insinuations during campaign rallies.
Mary Ann also confirmed speculations that her husband left her to have an affair with a woman-trader, and then asked Talisayan residents not to harm her since she supposedly lives in the area.
Endorsement
Moreno then cut short the recording and commented that further details of Maslog's statements are quite disturbing and too personal. "They (Baculio camp) are (polluting the campaign) with their black propaganda," Moreno griped.
Earlier, Mayor Maslog supposedly told Talisayan residents in a campaign rally that he was campaigning with his children since his marriage broke up allegedly as a result of his wife's affair with the governor.
Maslog is said to be aligned with Baculio's camp of 17 mayors who pledged their support to the lawmaker's gubernatorial campaign.
But in an e-mailed statement, Moreno vehemently disputed the allegations and accused the mayor of allegedly masterminding the various scams involving his wife, one of which is said to have included an attempted multi-million-peso bribery attempt at former Budget Secretary Benjamin Diokno.
Moreno also alleged that Maslog is making these revelations in hopes of securing campaign funding from Baculio's camp.
Despite this, Baculio's media reps dismissed Moreno's recordings and insinuated that the governor is supposedly housing some women he had affairs with in the US.
"Although I'm not saying that Maslog is one of them," one of Baculio's media reps told the host of Baculio's paid radio spot, a certain Cruz Mollejon. Maslog is now living in the US.
The lawmaker's media handlers then said they will come out with more exposes in the coming days -- one of them being the existence of a "contractor syndicate" of sorts in Moreno's administration.
They said this was in evidence during a reported altercation between some Provincial Board (PB) members belonging to Moreno's camp that reportedly involved the "cuts in profits" of a certain infrastructure project.
Baculio is said to be in Manila along with several candidates under the local Kabalikat ng Mamayang Pilipino (Kampi) banner to confer with Palace officials including President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo.
Moreno supposedly secured the President's endorsement for the gubernatorial post, a claim made by the governor's political ally Mayor Vicente Emano that was disputed by Baculio.
