IT’S political season anew. Here we go again, bickering and mudslinging among political camps and rivals. It’s with us whether we like it or not.
But this writer couldn’t help admiring Mayor Arlene Arcillas of the “Makati of the South” that is Sta. Rosa City, Laguna who has kept her cool amid attacks by her political opponents who even employed others in their sinister attempt to tarnish her image before the city electorate.
Last week, one George Toquero Pre, a retired city government employee, filed a plunder complaint against the youthful mayor before the Office of the Ombudsman accusing her and two other city officials, namely, Treasurer Laura Sy and Accountant Nelia Carvajal, of committing “serious corrupt acts and omissions in violation of the existing laws specifically Republic Act 3019 (Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act).”
Pre, who claims to head a local group called the People Power Volunteers for Reforms, further alleged that the trio “failed and refused to support the use and disbursement of funds with the pertinent papers and documents as well as to account and liquidate the amounts involving millions, if not billions of pesos/funds and properties of Sta. Rosa City as stated in annual Audit Reports of the Commission on Audit for years 2009, 2010 and 2011.”
But Mayor Arcillas, who’s seeking her third and last term come May 13 local polls, is unfazed. Branding the complaint as baseless as she undoubtedly believes it’s politically-motivated, she would rather ignore her adversaries’ nonsense assaults and instead focus more on her job as the city’s highest elected official.
Talking with her counsel, Atty. Mike Tezon, there’s every reason why the mayor has to stay unruffled.
It turns out that there’s no case at all because what Pre was carping had already been cleared specifically by the Commission on Audit or, to make it clearer, there are actually no irregularities to talk about as far as the city coffers are concerned.
In fact, Atty. Tezon says, the late DILG Secretary Jesse Robredo bestowed in 2011 the Arcillas administration with the Seal of Good Housekeeping recognizing its outstanding performance in internal housekeeping particularly in the areas of development planning, resource generation and allocation and utilization as well as in valuing the fun-damentals of good governance, accountability and transparency.
One could just question the timing of the filing of the complaint against her especially the motive behind it and all Mayor Arcillas could do is to commiserate with Pre who allowed himself to be used by her political rivals –out and desperate to grab the city leadership for their selfish and hidden agenda.
With the remarkable increase in revenues, now reaching a whopping P2-billion especially when Mayor Arcillas took over the helm in 2007, her political foes want to grab the credit but the local folks can’t be easily deceived, they know full well who works for their interest and the city as well. They’ll always go for her.