Asistio claims innocence in Gotesco land anomaly

Former Caloocan City Mayor Macario "Boy" Asistio Jr., who has been implicated in the Senate Blue ribbon Committee’s probe of the Gotesco land deal, claimed innocence yesterday.

He accused incumbent Mayor Reynaldo Malonzo, city hall officials, two congressmen, the Commission on Audit (COA) and land registration officials for allegedly having "conspired, showed evident bad faith and partiality" in the anomalous sale of the P500-million city property.

Asistio, Malonzo’s political archenemy, came out of hibernation to clear his name in the land row, which has dragged on for almost 20 years now.

The former mayor claimed he should be off the hook since the proposed sale he entered into with Gotesco Investment Inc. on Sept. 6, 1990 was terminated long ago.

The sale was considered null and void by COA in 1991 in the absence of a public bidding. The COA also said the price – P6,000 per square meter against average prevailing market valuation of P16,592.01 – was grossly disadvantageous to the city government.

In a five-page position paper to the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI), Asistio wants Malonzo, together with city legal officer Nestor Francisco, former secretary to Malonzo and now Rep. Enrico Echiverri, former city councilors Oscar Malapitan, Angel de Guzman, Florencio Dolatre, Chito Abel and Edgar Erice, now representative of the city’s second district charged with graft for allegedly "giving unwarranted benefit to GII."

Asistio said he was still mayor in 1990 when the city council authorized him to negotiate the sale of the city land to GII. This was subsequently nullified by the COA in 1991.