Tuesday, November 04, 2008 Candaba mayor, councilor clash By Jovi T. De Leon
CANDABA -- It seems like a classic war of words between pro-recall and anti-recall parties brought before the "media court" as Mayor Jerry Pelayo and Councilor Andy Gulapa lashed out at each other regarding the case of ex-security guard Juan Narvasa Jr. who was allegedly harassed by the mayor last October 27 here.
On Monday morning, Pelayo, a vocal critic of Pampanga Governor Eddie Panlilio, accused Gulapa, a known supporter of the priest-governor, of using the media to discredit him and tarnish his reputation as this town’s chief executive.
Pelayo said Gulapa should “see him in court” where he should file the necessary charges against him “and not resort to black propaganda.” He said Gulapa has since been “spreading” a leaflet claiming the mayor wanted to kill him.
But Gulapa denied the mayor’s allegations, saying it should be Narvasa, not he, who should file the charges, as it was the ex-security guard who stated that he was accosted and harassed by Pelayo at the town hall on October 27 as he waited for Gulapa to seek employment assistance.
Narvaza, whom Pelayo said is be a member of the Mabalacat police, was allegedly shouted at by the mayor who asked, “Would you like me to bury you here, now?"
But Pelayo refuted Narvasa’s allegation, saying it was routine for him to ask people coming to the town hall about their needs. “You are aware that I am security-conscious,” the two-termer Candaba mayor said.
Gulapa, who recently denied circulating an e-mail to newspapers titled “Nakakahiya, Makarine!,” which decried the recall move against Panlilio, said Pelayo should have not “treated” Narvasa in that manner, saying nobody would ever want to be treated that way.
Narvasa denied in earlier reports that he had introduced himself to Pelayo as a Mabalacat policeman.
In a handwritten statement made by Narvaza to the Municipal Council here last October 27, he claimed that Pelayo had threatened to kill him.
Pelayo, a long-time informal security aide of former Caloocan Mayor Rey Malonzo, is the spokesperson of the Pampanga Mayors League and is among the most vocal officials calling for the ouster of Panlilio.
According to Narvasa, he was waiting for Gualapa at the town hall to apply for a job when Pelayo’s bodyguards confronted him.
Narvasa said the mayor ordered his men to invite him to the local chief executive's office where the harassment allegedly transpired.
Pelayo asked him to produce identification cards and asked the chief of police here to conduct an investigation and put him in jail.
The mayor has denied Narvasa’s accusations, saying Narvasa's face was not familiar to him. He said Narvasa failed to show any identification cards that he is a policeman. “What he showed instead was an ATM card," he added.
