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Friday, June 02, 2006
Engineering office chief cries foul over extortion claim
By Lory Ann B. Bilbao
ILOILO City Engineer Mario Amatorio denied an accusation by his employee Ricardo Gumabong that he's one of the alleged extortionists in the city engineering office.
In an interview aired over Aksyon Radyo, Amatorio said he and other city engineer’s office (CEO) workers accused of allegedly extorting money work according to what is due to them.
He added that Gumabong might have seen no other way to get away from the accusations he was engaged in so he had to taint their names to deviate attention on the issue.
Gumabong allegedly asked for money from Rose Pharmacy and the Philippine Phospate Company Inc. (PhilPhos). He admitted this before the media Tuesday. He added that officials and co-employees at the CEO are doing the same. He said the officials extort huge amounts of money.
Gumabong admitted he used the name of the CEO to collect amount bigger than what building owners are supposed to pay as regards his duty as an electrical inspector.
He said Amatorio and five other CEO inspectors and chief of the electrical safety division, Engineer Marcelino Umahag, were allegedly involved in extortion.
He said Umahag allegedly gets money from the owners of the Marymart Mall, the Jamoras and that he does not allow others to inspect the establishment.
He also said such activity has been going on since 1992 and became worse under the time of Amatorio and Umahag.
Gumabong, as alleged, allegedly demanded P16,724 from the PhilPhos, but he denied this.
He instead said he was asked by Victor Palilio, manager of PhilPhos to make a formal letter indicating the proposed electrical inspection to the company. The said letter was also accompanied by a billing statement.
He also denied asking for P21,000 from Rose Pharmacy. He said only P9,000 was collected from the pharmacy.
Last Wednesday, Mayor Jerry P. Trenas said Gumabong should prove his claim. Treñas also tasked the City Legal Office to investigate the matter.
(June 2, 2006 issue)
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