Candoni Mayor Cicero Borromeo yesterday said he will keep up the fight against corruption to ensure justice for his town amid alleged plans by the allies of his political opponents to ease him out of office through recall proceedings.

But Borromeo said he believes God put him in his post as mayor of Candoni and he does not believe any move to recall him will succeed because he is an honest person.

He said he heard of the moves to have him recalled through the grapevine and he is taking it in stride.

Former Candoni Mayor Liberty Manzano denied being behind any recall move against Borromeo and said he should show proof of the charges he hurls against her.

Borromeo, who had earlier engaged in a verbal tussle with Vice Gov. Isidro Zayco, was at the Capitol in Bacolod City yesterday for a Provincial Development Council meeting.

“I attended the PDC meeting because it is my right as an elected official to represent my municipality, and I am not scared of anybody,” he said.

Asked what his relationship was now with the vice governor, Borromeo said “ I don't know…If they think that for me to suggest that they monitor the money that they give out is something that is bad for them, hey, I don't care.”

“But I will continue to articulate the needs of my people,” he said.

Zayco yesterday refused to comment on the statements of Borromeo.

Borromeo said he believes it is his duty to pursue cases involving the misuse of people's money. “I will never stop, we have to bring culprits to jail,” he said.

“More cases will be filed because we have to accountable for what to do,” Borromeo said.

Borromeo said he did not initiate but is supporting the move of Candoni resident Eduardo Ladiana who filed a criminal complaint before the Office of the Ombudsman in the Visayas against Manzano, former OIC municipal treasurer Analyn Rodriguez, and several other persons who allegedly conspired to illegally deplete the coffers of the town.

The complaint filed by Ladiana cited a 2006 Commission on Audit report that Rodriquez incurred a cash shortage of P4,303,030, for undeposited collection of P1,633,711 and unliquidated cash advances of P2,669,319, and effected the transfer of P2,118,200 from the depository account of the town's Trust Fund to the General Fund in violation of Presidential Decree No 1445, the Government Accounting and Auditing Manual and Republic Act 7160 (Local Government Code of 1991).

The transfer of the Trust Fund to the General Fund had the written authority of Manzano, he said.

He also charged Manzano with purchasing a P10 million grader without any bidding, as cited in the COA report.

Manzano denied committing any corruption while mayor of Candoni, and said she will have her lawyers answer the allegations against her.

She said no bidding on the grader was conducted because there was only one distributor, BJ Martel, for it.

Manzano also denied authorizing the transfer of the Trust Fund and said the allegations in the COA report can be answered by her lawyers.

“I don't know why Borromeo until now keeps on going after me when he won already. He should instead work for the people of Candoni,” she said.

“Why is he going after me when, as of now, we have no plan to return to office in Candoni? He should respect me because I am his aunt,” she said.

“If Borromeo runs Candoni well why should she run for office there again,” Manzano said.

Manzano said she is already happy at the Capitol, Zayco hired her as executive assistant and she is assigned to the provincial tourism office.

She said she does not know what recall move Borromeo is talking about, he was elected into office and should be allowed to stay until his term ends.*CPG

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