Arroyo ally says raps instigated by mayor

By: Tonette Orejas - 11 years ago

CITY OF SAN FERNANDO—A close ally of former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo said the plunder complaint filed against him was the handiwork of a Liberal Party mayor who was among the 23 people charged by the National Bureau of Investigation in connection with the alleged misuse of the P900-million Malampaya fund.

Former Candaba Mayor Jerry Pelayo. FILE PHOTO

Former Candaba Mayor Jerry Pelayo said he had reason to believe his successor, Mayor Rene Maglanque, was behind the plunder case filed by several Candaba residents led by Arnold Canimo.

He said Canimo, a former barangay captain, was now in the employ of the municipal government.

“Maglanque thinks I worked to have him included in the Malampaya plunder case. I didn’t have any hand in that,” Pelayo told the Inquirer by phone on Saturday.

Maglanque did not reply when the Inquirer sought him out for a reaction.

He has denied benefiting from the proceeds of the Malampaya gas project.

In June last year, streamers were put up in Candaba welcoming now detained alleged pork barrel scam mastermind Janet Lim-Napoles.

Napoles has been accused of operating a network of bogus nongovernment organizations to facilitate the receipt of hefty kickbacks for lawmakers, who supposedly financed projects using their Priority Development Assistance Fund or pork barrel.

Dennis Cunanan, director general of the Technology Resource Center who faced a Senate inquiry last week concerning his part in the scam, said Maglanque accompanied Napoles to his office in 2008.

Canimo and the other complainants filed the plunder charge against Pelayo in the Office of the Ombudsman. They accused the former mayor of conniving with several individuals and corporations to embezzle over P120 million in government funds in his nine years as mayor.