Thursday, September 28, 2006 City exec denies Reds link
CITY OF SAN FERNANDO -- City Administrator Sonia Soto said there is no truth to reports linking her to the New People's Army (NPA), the armed wing of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP).
Soto said she was not a member of the rebel group despite having been a member of Gabriela, a militant group fighting for the rights of women.
In August, a rebel returnee claiming to have known Soto accused the city official of allegedly donating P4 million a month to the NPA.
The amount is similar to the one mentioned in a smear campaign which accused city councilors of holding a special session in Macau recently.
Mayor Oscar Rodriguez, in defense of Soto, said the lady city official had never been part of the rebel movement.
He said Soto was chosen as the only associate of the Institute for Solidarity in Asia (ISA), an organization that supports positive changes in the government without violence nor any extrajudicial means.
Soto suspected that the allegations linking her to the NPA could be a way of conditioning the minds of the public as a step in causing harm on her.
"I am seeking protection by disclosing to the media the cases I have filed and which I am pursuing in the city's crusade for good public governance," Soto said.
Legal battles
The threats, Soto said, could have link to her filing of 14 cases of falsification of public documents as regards some P50 million worth of purchases against Pampanga Third District Representative Rey Aquino, who is a former city mayor.
Soto filed before the Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Office of Ombudsman the cases when suppliers and contractors started demanding payments for the purchases purportedly made by the City Government during Aquino's term as a mayor.
But, Aquino dismissed as "baseless" and "malicious" insinuations that his leaders have something to do with the death threats allegedly received by Soto.
"I don't have a record, reputation and capability for that sort of activity, and the public and government authorities know who actually do and had actually declared them publicly," he said. (ABL)
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