Winston Garcia mulls filing charges against 2 officials

ONE Cebu gubernatorial candidate Atty. Winston Garcia is contemplating on filing malversation, graft and corruption complaints against Gov. Hilario Davide III and Vice Gov. Agnes Magpale over the alleged misuse of super typhoon Yolanda donations and relief goods, according to a press statement released by the party yesterday.

The Garcia camp alleged that the donations and relief goods solicited were being used for “politicking,” because these were distributed in areas that did not bear the brunt of the typhoon. The goods were distributed in the towns of Barili, Cordova, Liloan and Dumanjug.

Timing questioned

“We are urging the Commission on Audit and the ombudsman to investigate the seeming misuse of the said donations and relief goods for distribution in non-Yolanda affected areas,” Garcia said.

One Cebu reminded Davide and Magpale that the donations were given through the generosity of countries and businesses for typhoon victims and not for politicking.

“The timing of the distribution of the relief goods is highly suspicious, especially since the election is just about 80 days away and the beneficiaries can be expected to be swayed by this ‘sudden generosity’ by the reelectionists,” the statement read.

Garcia said their lawyers are gathering affidavits and photos as evidence of what might be seen as an attempt to buy votes or to give funds to political allies under the guise of distributing relief goods or donations.

Reply

When sought for his reaction, Davide smiled and said “Bring it on.”

The governor urged reporters to ask the mayors about the matter since some of the donations were given directly to the towns.

Unsay pasabot niya ana nakakwarta mi? (Did he mean that we earned money out of this?)” Davide said.

He said all donations and relief goods were directly distributed to all typhoon victims.

Maminaw man mo anang Garcia nga puro paghot, nag sige’g pautot (Why should you listen to that Garcia? All he does is bark and bluff)” the governor said.

Davide said some foreign and local donations were turned over to them for distribution to the affected towns.

That goes to show that foreign and local private companies trusted and had full confidence in the Provincial Government, he said.

Garcia pa adto, dili ipaagi niya (Had it been Garcia, the donations wouldn’t have gone through him),” Davide said.

According to the summary of distribution of relief goods provided by Capitol, 12,791 sacks of rice and 10,150 sacks of assorted goods were given to 239,060 affected families in the municipal and barangay levels.

The document showed that 24 local government units, including Liloan. were given relief goods but not the towns of Barili, Cordova and Dumanjug.

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