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Wednesday, January 17, 2007
5 councilors deny receiving bribes
By Grace L. Plata and Rhodamae M. Hernandez
DAVAO CITY -- Five Davao City councilors defended themselves against allegations of bribery Tuesday, which ended in a resolution requesting a separate probe by the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) on the matter.
Councilors Jesus Zozobrado Jr., Diosdado Angelo Mahipus, Bonifacio Militar, Victorio Advincula, and Nilo Abellera allegedly received "PR money" from the Metro Davao Transport Terminal managed by Ramesh Purswani.
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Zozobrado, who was first to rose in what ensued as one of the longest privilege hours in history, said that after last week's session, four or five men barged inside his office.
One of the men, whom Zozobrado later identified as Jong-jong Suyko--a radio block timer, reportedly demanded that he explain photocopies of some documents, purported to be billings and vouchers of the Metro Davao Transport Terminal in SM that showed money allegedly released to the councilors in payment for their approval of a city ordinance.
Zozobrado said he told Suyko that he could not answer the commentator's questions because he has never seen the billings.
Suyko allegedly pulled out some photocopied papers and slapped it on top on Zozobrado's table in a way the councilor deemed as brusque and impolite, leading to a shouting match between them.
Zozobrado said he noticed for the first time as Suyko was leaving that the radio commentator was carrying a tape recorder. Suyko then replayed over his radio program the recorded conversation between him and Zozobrado.
As a result of what the councilor calls malicious fabrications, he filed a criminal complaint against Suyko for libel and violation of the Anti-Wiretapping Act.
"Simply said, I am sending him to jail for a total of 13 years," Zozobrado said.
Zozobrado said he also gotten hold of those papers that Suyko questioned him about since it was sent to his office anonymously.
The papers include: a billing to Metro Davao Transport Terminal as refund for PR expensed paid to a certain AVL in the amount of 50,000; a billing for PR expenses to councilors; a voucher to record expenses for media people, newspapermen and television personnel; and a voucher for dining expenses of Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board personnel.
Also, cash vouchers each for P30,000 allegedly for two months allowance of the following payees: a councilor whose name is spelled as "Susumrano," Advincula, Militar, Mahipus, and Abellera.
Zozobrado said he is aware that other machine-copied vouchers have been distributed, but added that none of these are reliable or worthy of belief.
He pointed out that the vouchers does not state in any way that the money mentioned was paid to or received by the councilors.
The billings were made, approved, and collected by Purswani.
Also, the penmanship of the payees as shown in the voucher differs greatly from the actual penmanship of the councilors mentioned.
Mahipus said it is clear that those are duplicated vouchers.
Abellera, who heard the issue being talked about Tuesday morning over a radio program in a giant network, then proposed that the NBI be requested to look into the matter, which is now besmirching the name of the councilors and puts the integrity of the council into question. (Sun.Star Davao/Sunnex)
For more Philippine news, visit Sun.Star Pangasinan. (January 17, 2007 issue)
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