Town mayor's husband mulls filing case

CEBU, Philippines - With the murder case against him likely to weaken after the witness recanted his statement, Ricardo Reluya, husband of reelectionist San Fernando town Mayor Lakambini “Neneth” Reluya, yesterday said his lawyers might file a case against people who have tried to malign his name.

“I had sleepless nights from the very day that I learned that I was facing a murder case. You see, it was not easy for me and my family. I knew from the start it was politically motivated and I was proven right. But whatever that is, rest assured we will not take it sitting down,” Reluya said.

Reluya wants his lawyers to do something about individuals “who have been trying to pull us down.”

He also claims that witness Rolando Bajao has “daghang alas” (several aces up his sleeve) against the Canoys.”

Bajao had alleged that San Fernando Vice Mayor Antonio Canoy, who is running for mayor against Reluya’s wife, offered him P30,000 to pinpoint the mayor’s husband as the mastermind in the murder of Lalaine Jore in February 17 last year.

Canoy’s son Mikko, a councilor of the same town and also his father’s runningmate in the May 10 elections, denied the allegations, saying he does not personally know Bajao and that he has not even met him.

Reportedly based on their conversations shortly after he submitted his official withdrawal of his statement to the Cebu City Prosecutor’s Office the other day, Reluya said Bajao has the mobile phone numbers of Mikko and his father and their office in Cebu City, which “is proof enough that they don’t just know each other, they have actually a series of talks.”

Bajao alleged that he met the vice mayor at a mall in Makati City last March 2 where he was allegedly told by Canoy to link the mayor’s husband to the killing of Jore and even gave him P15,000 as initial payment and a roundtrip plane ticket to Cebu.

Reluya said Bajao, who had claimed that he had to change his mind after learning that what he was made to do was for political gain, also showed him papers that would allegedly link Bajao to the Canoys.

“They had planned all this, and it failed. I wonder what their next move will be,” said Reluya.

Vice Mayor Canoy is Mayor Reluya’s biggest opponent in the coming

election. Reluya, who won in the 2007 election, was the first non-Canoy in the history of San Fernando politics to have won.

 Canoy, who served as the town mayor for three straight terms, attempted to hand his post to his wife Renee but Reluya beat her, winning by a margin of 40 votes. –   (FREEMAN NEWS)