Who knew a Facebook post could cause this much trouble?
Administrative charges were filed against San Pascual, Batangas Mayor Roanna Conti at the Office of the Ombudsman in Quezon City today because she allegedly went on a vacation to California and Nevada without securing the approval of the provincial governor. Proof of this vacation was found in her husband’s Facebook page.
The charges were filed by the town’s Vice Mayor Antonio Dimayuga, who alleged that the members of the municipal council were also not informed that Conti was in the US from Dec. 20, 2018 to Jan. 5, 2019, ABS-CBN reported. Dimayuga was formerly the town’s mayor and is from a different political party.
However, Conti has denied that she traveled without authority and said she secured the approval of the provincial Governor Hermilando Mandanas.
In his complaint against Conti, Dimayuga presented alleged photos of the trip that were posted on Facebook by Conti’s own husband and a certain Lala Ilao-Dingalasan, reported GMA News.
The photos allegedly show Conti and her family spending Christmas and New Year’s in Las Vegas and La Cañada Flintridge in Los Angeles, Remate reported.
The vice mayor alleged that Conti’s application for leave was not signed by him nor Mandanas. As the vice mayor, he said he should have been informed because he would have to assume the mayor’s post until Conti returned from her vacation.
The Department of Interior and Local Government states that mayors have to secure the approval first of the provincial governor before traveling anywhere.
Dimayuga also alleged that the municipal office’s Human Resource Management Officer and Acting Administrator Ronaldo Gonzales Jr. acted in conspiracy with Conti by hiding the fact that she went out of town.
“With the aid of her conspirators including but not limited to the municipal administrator, respondent Conti intentionally and purposely concealed her overseas travel to the Sangguniang Bayan for political reasons in order not to let the vice local chief executive at such time to assume her temporarily vacated post in lieu of her ‘leave,'” Dimayuga said in his complaint.
The vice mayor also said that if a calamity struck the town during the days that Conti was in the US, there were certain decisions that only she could have made since he did not assume her post. This scenario would have put the town in limbo.
In a statement posted on Facebook, however, Conti rejected Dimayuga’s accusations and called them baseless. She also promised that she will file a perjury case against him. She also attached a document signed by Mandanas that authorized her to travel to the United States.
Referring to Dimayuga, she wrote: “Perhaps the old politician, who is the real person facing graft charges before the Office of the Ombudsman, is growing senile and wants to make a return as Mayor even if the recent elections showed that people preferred a new leadership.”
