Valladolid Vice Mayor Gloria Gomez yesterday said she is ready to answer the criminal and administrative complaint filed against her before the Ombudsman, stressing that she will not tarnish her good name in public service with only a year to go before her term ends.

Accused of malversation of public funds, attempted bribery, and violation of the anti-graft and corrupt practices act by Guintorilan barangay captain Joel Samera, Gomez said she is ready with her counter-affidavit although she has yet to receive an official copy of the complaint.

In his complaint, Samera said the vice mayor violated the law when she failed to account for construction materials worth P20, 255 intended for a project in Brgyu. Guintorilan.

Samera said Gomez made a purchase request for the materials stating in the document that it will be given as assistance to the barangay.

Samera said the Barangay Council of Guintorilan never requested nor received the construction materials and when they inquired from the office of Gomez about it, the vice mayor sent him a letter inviting him to visit her office and claim the amount of P20,000.

Gomez, however, said she requested for the materials after Domingo Mayang, a resident of Guintorilan and member of an irrigation group in the barangay, asked her assistance for the construction of their footwalk.

“There was a pending request for those materials from a barangay resident. There are times when we have to directly respond to the request of our constituents instead of waiting for the barangay council to make their move,” Gomez told the DAILY STAR.

She also denied calling Samera on the phone to offer him a certain amount, saying she does not have the barangay captain's mobile phone number.

Contrary to Samera's claim that the materials are missing, Gomez said the materials were delivered and paid for with the municipal treasurer's office having all the documents of the transactions.

The vice mayor said she wrote the treasurer's office to give her the name of the claimant of the check, but she was told that they still have to clear everything with Mayor Romel Yogore.

Meanwhile, Gomez is also facing another complaint before the Ombudsman for the appointment of her cousin's wife, Rosalie Samson, to a permanent position in the Office of the Sangguniang Bayan in February 2006.

Complainant Quencie Adams of Brgy. Poblacion, Valladolid, also included in the complaint former Mayor Ricardo Presbitero.

Gomez said there was no violation in the Civil Service rules over the appointment of Samson since that law only prohibits an appointment of the appointing authority up to third degree of affinity.

Since Samson is the wife of her first cousin, their relation falls under the fourth degree of affinity, she said.

She added that politics might be behind these complaints as there are speculations in the town that she will run for mayor against Yogore in the 2013 elections.*NAB

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