Caloocan official: Graft rap vs Rep. Malapitan ‘politically motivated’

MANILA, Philippines —  Former Caloocan Mayor Rey Malonzo’s move to file graft and malversation complaints against Representative Oscar “Oca” Malapitan before the Office of the Ombudsman is “politically motivated,” according to the city’s Public Inform Office chief Princess Garcia.

Earlier Tuesday, Malonzo said he filed the complaints against Malapitan, the first district representative of Caloocan, and six others in relation to the latter’s alleged misuse of Priority Development Assistance Funds amounting to P8 million from 2007 to 2009.

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“We maintain that this case and other succeeding cases that he (Malonzo) will file are all politically motivated,” Garcia told INQUIRER.net in a Viber message.

“He (Malonzo) has been a Caloocan resident for the longest time, naging ally din ang anak niya ng mga (his son also became an ally of the) Malapitan when he was a councilor, but they were all praises to Cong Oca then. So now that he’s running against Cong Oca, he suddenly thought of all these cases?” she added.

Although he intends to run as one of Caloocan’s representatives in the 2025 elections, Malonzo said his move to file cases against Malapitan and others should not be questioned.

“When you file a case against a politician, they will say that it’s politically motivated, but what I’m saying is, whatever they say, they should not question me but the findings of the Commission on Audit (COA),” he said in Filipino.

In his complaint affidavit, Malonzo claimed that Malapitan and five former officials of the Department of Social Welfare and Development allegedly violated Section (a), (e), and (g) of the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act and Article 172 (2) of the Revised Penal Code (malversation of public funds).

According to Malonzo, P8 million was illegally transferred to KACI despite being unqualified for PDAF transfer, citing a report from the COA.