Recall move vs Munti
mayor gets underway

MUNTINLUPA mayor Aldrin San Pedro is facing a recall move initiated by supporters of former three-term city mayor Jaime Fresnedi, less than two years before the 2010 election.

In a press conference Wednesday morning in Makati City, Fresnedi told reporters they are gathering signatures from registered voters for submission to the Commission on Elections which will decide on whether to conduct a recall election in Muntinlupa.

Fresnedi’s wife Loreta was beaten by San Pedro in the 2007 polls.

The current vice mayor, Arturo Simundac, is a close Fresnedi ally.

Fresnedi said the recall is an offshoot of alleged irregularities committed during San Pedro’s first year in office, including the alleged overprice of local infrastructure projects and the mismanagement of the city’s finances.

"We may not be successful in having the poll body initiate a recall due to lack of funds but through this signature drive, we would be able to let the residents know what is happening in Muntinlupa," Fresnedi said.

Fresnedi challenged San Pedro to explain to his constituents the P1.5 billion borrowed by the local government last year from the Land Bank of the Philippines for the construction of a new city hall to replace the one razed by a fire. "It turned out that there was a fund intended for the city hall construction so why do we have to get a P1.5 billion loan, which would be paid through the taxpayers’ money? Where did they take this large amount of money?"

Fresnedi said city officials rehabilitated the burned city hall using the P50 million donated by President Arroyo, an additional P55 million appropriated by the city council and the insurance claim from the Government Service Insurance System. He said they realigned the P1.5 billion loan funds to other projects.

Fresnedi said San Pedro is also seeking a P150 million loan, this time from the Development Bank of the Philippines, allegedly to purchase of a lot where a Justice Hall will be put up to house the various courts in the city.

He also questioned the "bloating" of the city hall workforce from only 3,000 last year to 9,000 now.

Fresnedi said residents are responding positively to the signature drive. He said they are close to signing up the required minimum of 15 percent of the registered voters to get the recall move rolling. He did not deny that he wants to be mayor again in 2010 but said he will give way if someone better qualified runs.

"I owe it to my people, who are being harassed and persecuted by the current leadership in Muntinlupa," he said.

Another former city official, Ariel Dolleton also lashed out at San Pedro, questioning what he said was the questionable release of P15 million in calamity funds last October. Dolleton early this year filed plunder charges against San Pedro and eight other local officials before the Office of the Ombudsman in connection with the awarding of some P230 million of infrastructure projects without any bidding. The case was dismissed.