Erice awaits response to latest charge

The camp of Caloocan Mayor Enrico Echiverri has chosen to keep silent for now on charges of misuse of public funds filed by Vice Mayor Edgar Erice against him in the Office of the Ombudsman.

City officials close to the local chief executive said that since they had yet to receive a copy of the complaint, the fifth lodged by Erice against Echiverri in more than a year, they would be withholding their comments.

“We haven’t seen a copy of the complaint. Let’s just wait,” said Mei Go, a member of the mayor’s legal team.

Erice said the mayor’s silence could mean they just want the issue to die down.

In the complaint filed by Erice on January 25, he accused Echiverri of gross neglect for misusing P1.5 billion of the city’s special projects and activities fund from 2006 to 2010.

The vice mayor based his accusation on the construction of basketball courts 100 meters apart from each other, and the installation of street lamps which, he claimed, had not been fitted with lights.

He also accused Echiverri of using the money without authorization from the city council.