Antipolo vice mayor sues mayor for graft

Antipolo City Vice Mayor Ronaldo Leyva has sued Mayor Casimiro “Junjun” Ynares for firing some of the employees in his office.

In a 17-page complaint affidavit filed in the Office of the Ombudsman for Luzon earlier this month, Leyva accused Ynares of grave misconduct,  gross neglect of duty, conduct prejudicial to the interest of the service, and violation of the Local Government Code of 1991 and Republic Act No. 3019 also known as the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act.

The complaint stemmed from  Ynares’ signing of City Resolution No. 2013-028 titled “A Resolution overriding the executive veto on City Ordinance No. 2013-517 (An ordinance  amending City Ordinance No. 2008-308 or an ordinance adopting a new structure and staffing pattern for the city government of Antipolo).”

The resolution, according to Leyva, was used by Ynares to fire some staffers and coterminus employees in the Office of the Vice Mayor.

He questioned the rationale behind the move, saying that although Ynares had claimed that it was a cost-cutting measure, only his office was affected, practically crippling its operations.

“The abolition should have extended to the appointive positions under the Office of the City Mayor, if not the other Department of the City Government of Antipolo which has several redundant positions,” Leyva stressed.

He added that Ynares violated the principle of the separation of powers between the executive and legislative branches of the local government by encroaching on his powers as mandated by law and by undermining the independence of the city council of which he is the presiding officer.

“This only proves that the above named officials are being discriminated [against] by respondent Ynares as part of his political vendetta [against] those who opposed his entry to the political scene in Antipolo City,” Leyva said.

Last year, Leyva, along with former Antipolo Mayor Nilo Leyble and several others, was linked to an alleged assassination plot against Ynares and his father, former Rizal Gov. Ito Ynares.

They were charged in court not by the Ynareses but by the widow of the alleged gunman who claimed that her husband was killed because he wanted to back out of the plot.

The case, however, was dismissed in October due to lack of evidence.

Meanwhile, Ynares refused to comment on the complaint filed against him by Leyva who also asked the Ombudsman to place the mayor under preventive suspension for the duration of the investigation.

The mayor said he had yet to receive a copy of the complaint against him. “My official reaction? I can’t comment on something that I have not read,” Ynares told the Inquirer. With a report from Kristine Felisse Mangunay