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BY GLENDA SOLOGASTOA
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Tuesday, February 21, 2017
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ILOILO City – Mayor Rosario Mediatrix Fernandez faces charges at the Sandiganbayan for the delayed contributions of San Enrique, Iloilo municipal employees to the Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) and Home Development Mutual Fund (HDMF or Pag-IBIG) amounting to P5.96 million.
The Office of the Ombudsman also charged former municipal treasurer Imelda Celebrar.
The two failed to remit a total of P5.34 million to the GSIS and P620,000 to the HDMF “within 30 days from the time they became due and demandable,” according to the Ombudsman’s Office of the Special Prosecutor.
Fernandez and Celebrar were specifically accused of 16 counts of violation of Section 52 (g) of the GSIS Act of 1997 and 11 counts of violation of Section 3 (a), Rule VII of the HDMF Law of 2009.
The delayed GSIS contributions supposedly covered the months of January 2011 to October 2011, April 2012, and June 2012 to October 2012.
‘NO MONEY STOLEN’
Fernandez welcomed the charges.
“This is an old issue. Every election, this is being raised against me,” she lamented.
Fernandez admitted the delay.
“Amo man lang ‘ni ang aton lapses…pero ma-assure ko ang akon mga kasimanwa nga wala sang may nadula nga pundo,” the town mayor stressed.
Fernandez linked the charges against her to local politics.
“I will defend myself in court. I will prove that no public funds were stolen,” she said.
She acknowledged that under the principle of command responsibility, she may be held accountable.
“Seguro for some reason…seguro negligence man…kun kis-a masalig sila (treasurer and accounting office),ma-delay ang mga remittances, not being aware nga may legal impediment ini s’ya gali,” Fernandez explained.
Fernandez recalled that the complaint was initiated way back in 2013 by a former Sangguniang Bayan member that she considered a political adversary.
The administrative aspect of the case was already dismissed, said Fernandez.
She also said that by the time she left as mayor in 2013, all the contributions had already been remitted.
“Clean and transparent ang governance naton. Ang ini nga lapse is delay sa remittance, not nga gintakaw ang kwarta,” said Fernandez./PN
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