THE newly elected Sangguniang Kabataan (SK) president of Minglanilla denied allegations he brought 10 of his fellow youth officials to a beach party two days before the SK Federation elections.
Minglanilla SK Federation president John Jesson Gimenez then asked the Sangguniang Bayan to dismiss the complaint filed against him by fellow SK chairperson Niño Justin Tecson, saying there is no truth to the latter’s claims.
“The law states that SK chairpersons cannot meet in organization meetings five days before and five days after the federation elections. But we held the victory party on May 20 and 21,” Gimenez said, citing Department of the Interior and Local Government’s Joint Memorandum Circular 2017-01.
Tecson accused Gimenez, though, of holding the beach party with the other SK chairpersons on May 27, two days before the SK Federation elections were held last May 29.
In an interview yesterday, Gimenez said that after being elected as SK chairman of Barangay Tulay last May 14, he organized a victory party with his friends in Alcoy.
Since most of the SK chairpersons were his close friends and classmates in high school, he decided to invite them.
He also wanted to discuss with his fellow youth council officials their programs and plans for the youth.
“Nag-gather mi para sa among mga ideas, tuyo ug tumong,” he said.
He believes that the complaint against him will be dismissed as Tecson’s evidence against him was based on Facebook photos that were uploaded late.
Minglanilla public information officer Erick Pagar, for his part, plans to file cases against Tecson for allegedly maligning him after he was included in the complaint.
“I was there to visit a girlfriend when I saw them (Gimenez and the other SK officials) in the beach. I was there not because I accompanied them but in my personal capacity,” he said.
He also accused Tecson of putting Gimenez and the rest of the SK officials in a bad light by not accepting the results of the SK Federation elections.
But Tecson, in a separate interview, asked Gimenez and Pagar to provide evidence to prove him wrong.
He said he has other evidence and people willing to testify to support his case against them. (JKV)