Palace downplays robbery complaint vs Mar

MANILA, Philippines - Malacañang has downplayed the robbery complaint filed against Interior and Local Government Secretary Manuel Roxas II and some police officials by the son of suspended Cebu Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia, saying it will not prosper.

“Everyone knows that a criminal offense is committed personally. Unless they have proof that Secretary Mar was present in Cebu and stole those tents, I doubt if the case will prosper,” presidential spokesman Edwin Lacierda said.

In a three-page complaint, Pablo Garcia III said Roxas and Director Marcelo Garbo of Police Regional Office, Regional Public Safety Battalion commanding officer Superintendent Leopoldo Cabanag and Inspector Alvino Enguito of RPSB-Central Visayas have refused to return three tents used for a vigil at the capitol in support of the suspended governor.

Meanwhile, Philippine National Police chief Director General Alan Purisima said he is ready to order the eviction of Garcia from the capitol once he receives an order from the province’s officer-in-charge.

“Our job is to maintain peace and order in the area,” Purisima told The STAR.

However, Purisima said eviction might not be necessary unless there is disruption of government service.

Lacierda said the suspension order against the Cebu governor followed due process and was not a form of harassment, contrary to the claim of former President Joseph Estrada.

Estrada was quoted as saying it was “un-Christian” for the Aquino administration to suspend Garcia this Christmas season.

But Lacierda said the timing of the enforcement of the suspension order was coincidental.

“The typical or the conventional framing of the opposition is that this is harassment. There is no harassment. Let us remember that there was an administrative complaint filed against the governor. The decision was issued and the DILG (Department of the Interior and Local Government) only implemented it. It so happened that it was implemented near the holiday season,” Lacierda said.

“With due respect also to Vice President Jejomar Binay, who advised Garcia to stay in the capitol, we have always mentioned that we encourage Governor Gwen Garcia to follow the rule of law,” he said.

Lacierda said the suspension order should have been respected, considering that the Court of Appeals did not issue a temporary restraining order (TRO).

On the claim of the United Nationalist Alliance that the administration gives special treatment to its allies, as with the case of former Isabela governor Grace Padaca, Lacierda said it was a decision of the Sandiganbayan not to arrest her.

“Before she was appointed as Comelec commissioner, she had a bag on standby. She was prepared to be arrested anytime…For one reason or another, we don’t know why the Sandiganbayan did not implement the arrest order,” he said. In the case of Caloocan City Mayor Enrico Echiverri, Lacierda said a TRO was issued on the six-month suspension order by the DILG. –  With Delon Porcalla, Paolo Romero, Teodoro Molina