Reelectionist Caloocan City Mayor Oscar Malapitan turned the tables on the woman who had accused him of plunder and graft over the allegedly overpriced grocery items given to senior citizens in the city.
Malapitan on Wednesday filed a criminal complaint against Teresita Manalo, 69, in the city prosecutor’s office for malicious prosecution as defined under Section 35 of Republic ActNo. 6670, or the Ombudsman Act of 1989.
In an affidavit, the mayor said Manalo’s complaint against him in the Office of the Ombudsman was “pregnant with malice and gross bad faith (and) completely unwarranted, false and a product of fabrications and lies.”
He vehemently denied that the birthday packs were overpriced by P49 million as Manalo alleged, saying the city government’s annual investment plan would show that a total of P31.5 million was allocated for the purchase of gift items for seniors this year.
Malapitan pointed to the camp of Caloocan Rep. Enrico Echiverri, one of his rivals in the mayoral race, as behind Manalo’s complaint. “(It) was filed two weeks before the elections … to mislead or misinform the voters and deprive me of ample time and opportunity to disprove the false accusations,” he noted.
The mayor said each birthday package costs P339 and not P2,000, and that the procurement project had undergone public bidding.
Manalo “dishonestly and maliciously misrepresented” the quantities of grocery items per pack “to make it appear that it is overpriced,” Malapitan added.
Each pack, for example, had 1 kilo of spaghetti, and not 500 grams as Manalo claimed. It also had 1 kilo of tomato sauce, or 500 grams more than what she told the Ombudsman.
The mayor also denied Manalo’s claim that there were 350,000 registered seniors in the city, saying the local government’s allocation was only for 90,000 residents aged 60 and up.