MANILA, Philippines — Manila Mayor Francisco “Isko Moreno” Domagoso said on Tuesday he has no plans to file charges against his predecessor Joseph “Erap” Estrada over the latter’s failure to hand over official city government documents and records.
All provincial governors, city and municipal mayors are mandated to create their respective transition teams and “gather, secure, and preserve all official documents, transitions and records for proper turnover,” as stated in the Memorandum Circular No. 2019-39 of the Department of the Interior and Local Goverment (DILG).
“No, with regard to the non-performance of the obligation on the basis of that memorandum, alam mo, ayoko na ng excess baggage sa buhay,” Moreno said in an interview over ABS CBN News Channel when asked if he plans to file charges against Estrada and his team.
“With that particular memorandum, ‘yung violation nila sa transition, wala naman ‘yun eh. Ang pinahirapan lang naman nila ay ako eh… Those things, wala na ‘yan, kaligtaan na ‘yan,” he added.
READ: Erap fails to turnover Manila city gov’t documents to Isko Moreno
READ: City hall records for Isko Moreno: Still zero
He said his administration will instead personally get the documents from the Commission on Audit (COA).
“Ako lang kasi, ‘yung dokumento na yan, nandyan ‘yan, and ang pinakamabisa niyan, I will just go to COA, they have the copies of all the documents,” Moreno said.
Moreno said he will leave it up to the DILG if it wants to file charges against Estrada for his non-compliance to the DILG memorandum on the turn over of official city government documents.
The DILG earlier said it is considering to file administrative cases against Estrada if proven negligent in the turnover of documents.
READ: DILG mulls filing of raps vs Erap if negligence found in docs turnover
“It’s up to them (DILG). Kung mga ganyan lang na pagpapahirap sa akin. Hindi na ‘yan. Ikikibit-balikat ko na lang,” Moreno said. (Editor: Mike U. Frialde)