Thursday, February 07, 2008 Guv 'can go to jail' for perjury By Marna H. Dagumboy
CITY OF SAN FERNANDO -- Pampanga Governor Eddie Panlilio can go to jail for perjury for his alleged failure to declare all his contributors to the Commission on Elections (Comelec) provincial office.
This was raised by a certain William Tiongson in an open letter addressed to Dr. Philip Chua of the Filipino United Network (FUN), which described the donors issue as "worrisome," as Panlilio might go to jail for perjury if a formal complaint would file against him before the Comelec.
Tiongson said Panlilio had signed the Comelec Schedule of Contributions Received under oath but failed to declare all his donors, who had contributed for his campaign funds in the May 2007 elections.
He also alleged that the governor could be accused of "overspending" because under the Comelec law, a gubernatorial bet is allowed to spend only P5 million for his campaign.
It could be noted that Panlilio only declared about P4,761,699.90 worth of donations from his contributors for his political campaign in the last elections.
"The question is, if other contributors will come out in the open with their receipts and cancelled checks amounting to more than P300,000, he would have reached the P5 million legal limit allowed by law," Tiongson stated in his letter.
Tiongson also alleged that if the governor had overspent in his campaign, he might be removed from office for overspending.
"If this happens, the governor has overspent and can be removed from office for overspending just as what happened to former senator Raul Manglapus decades ago when he was found guilty of breaching the legal limits allowed by law," Tiongson said.
Tiongson, who claimed to be a supporter of Panlilio, urged Chua to help the governor by getting the best lawyers to defend him from the numerous issues besetting his office.
He also asked Panlilio's supporters to convince Tess Guanzon, his campaign finance committee, to come out with the list of people who contributed to the governor's campaign kitty.
"With the numerous issues besetting Governor Panlilio, let us help him by getting the best lawyers we can afford to pay. Also let us convince his campaign finance committee chair Mrs. Tess Guanzon, to come out with the list of people who contributed to the governor's campaign to put an end to all these speculations," Tiongson said.
