2nd Gomez-Zamora showdown looms

Former San Juan Vice Mayor Francis Zamora and the people behind the petition for a recall election against Mayor Guia Gomez urge the incumbent mayor to come out and receive the notice from the Commission on Elections as they accused her of delaying the proceedings. —LYN RILLON

Former San Juan Vice Mayor Francis Zamora has asked the Commission on Elections (Comelec) to help them locate Mayor Guia Gomez so that she could be served with the election recall notice issued by the poll body.

“I call on the Comelec en banc. Please help us find Mayor Guia…,” Francis Zamora said in a press conference on Thursday.

Even Grace Cortes, the city’s public information chief, admitted that she did not know where Gomez was.

“We appeal to the Comelec en banc to guide the San Juan election officers on how to properly serve the notice of sufficiency as Mayor Gomez is not reporting to work at city hall and is evading
the election officer,” Zamora said.

Sufficient in form

Saying it was “sufficient in form,” the Comelec on Dec. 14 granted the petition to hold a recall election against Gomez who won as San Juan mayor over Zamora by around 1,000 votes.

The petition was filed on Sept. 22 by city residents and barangay officials Sophia Patricia Gil, Raul Sevilla, Raymond Alzona and Jun Paul Aquino.

According to Gil, around 30,000 residents signed the petition, far more than the required 14,425 signatures.

In a statement sent to the Inquirer, Gomez, who is on leave, announced her readiness to face her political rival who was once her ally. “I will take the legal and appropriate course and will respect the decision of Comelec, whatever it is. My lawyers are ready. Let this matter take its due course,” she said.

“Let me put it clearly that I am not afraid to face and defeat my former vice mayor once again if this [recall elections] will really take place next year…,” she added.

Under the law, recall elections can be initiated through a petition by 20 percent of the registered voters in the poll being questioned. This applies to cities or municipalities with 20,000 to 75,000 voters.

San Juan City had 71,225 registered voters in 2016 with Gomez winning over Zamora by 1,000 votes.

“Some 50,000 bona fide residents supported Zamora. This is enough to call for a recall. The (Ejercito) clan has been in power for 48 years already,” said Gil.

“Our dilemma here is the copy of the resolution has not been served on (Gomez) because of her supposed leave of absence,” Gil added.

Absentee mayor?

“She is now never around to discharge [her] duties, even skipping the flag ceremony on the last Monday of the year and other important events of the city,” she said.

For Zamora, Gomez’s absence was a conscious effort to delay the recall process. “She is purposely evading the notice of sufficiency so validation of signature will not proceed,” he claimed, adding: “I have information she is just in her home. Her constituents are looking for her.”

The petitioners had accused Gomez of “utter failure to protect the residents of San Juan City from the proliferation of drugs,” describing her administration as “antipoor” and a “corruption-plagued regime.”

Gomez, however, dismissed the allegations against her, saying, “it is sad that while everyone is in high spirits to celebrate the holidays, there are some individuals, who are all [out] in their desperate attempts to dampen our holidays with their political divisive efforts.”

Gomez said she has never received any Comelec resolution on the sufficiency of the recall petition.