Friday, October 26, 2007 2 Lapu officials sued by Pelaez gets 20 more days
LAPU-LAPU City officials facing a P2.2 million suit got 20 more days to answer the charge.
Regional Trial Court (RTC) Judge Estela Alma Singco of branch 12 granted the motion for extension filed by lawyer Richard Sison for his clients, City Attorney Vincent Joseph Lim and City Administrator Teodulo Ybañez.
Mactan Island Chamber of Commerce and Industry (MICCI) president Efrain Pelaez sued Lim and Ybañez for damages after the two officials called him publicly as a tax evader and persona non grata.
Sison sought more time to answer the complaint saying he still needs to gather evidence to support their defense.
Singco gave them 20 more days yesterday after Pelaez’s camp did not object.
Pelaez’s damage suit is an offshoot of the worsening row between him and Lapu-Lapu City officials led by Mayor Arturo Radaza.
The trader earlier filed graft charges against Radaza, Lim and Ybañez before the Visayas Ombudsman for the city’s allegedly overpriced purchase of personal computers in 2005.
The accusations hurled by Pelaez angered the officials who in turn accused him of being a “tax evader” and called him “persona non grata.”
The businessman believes that the attack against his person stemmed from his group’s campaign against graft and inefficiency in government. (KNT)
