ILOILO City – The criminal and administrative charges filed against him were politically-motivated, according to Vice Mayor Jeffrey Ganzon.
Ganzon has been charged with gross misconduct and violation of the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act before the Office of the Ombudsman on Feb. 18 for nepotism, maintaining “ghost” employees and using his office’s official vehicle for personal use.
The complainant was a certain Ramon Baltazar Aldea of Zone 4, Barangay Calumpang, Molo district.
Ganzon said he was not familiar with Aldea and was yet to receive a copy of the complaint. But he believed the charges were aimed at discrediting him.
“Natural lang ‘na sa pulitika. You cannot expect a nice word from your opponent kun may opponent gid man. Pero I don’t know kun sin-o gid man,” he said.
Ganzon is running for vice mayor. He was elected No. 1 councilor in 2016 but became vice mayor in 2017 due to the vacancy that resulted from then Vice Mayor Jose Espinosa III’s ascension to the mayorship after then mayor Jed Patrick Mabilog was dismissed by the Ombudsman from the service for unexplained wealth.
As the May 13 midterm elections draw near, Ganzon said he expected more black propaganda against him.
“Ang masiling ko lang 100 percent wala ko ‘ya may ginbuhat nga illegal,” he said.
He denied maintaining ghost employees but defended his hiring of family members as part of his office staff.
“Under the Civil Service Law, you are allowed (to employ) three related members by consanguinity or by affinity, highly technical, highly confidential nga mga co-terminus. That is allowed, that is legal. Wala problema,” said Ganzon.
He also denied using his office’s official vehicle for personal matters.
“Wala ko ga-worry. As far as I’m concerned limpyo konsensiya ko,” said Ganzon. /PN
