Goma sees rival's hand in disqualification case

Actor Richard Gomez is seeing politics behind the disqualification case filed against him and is blaming his rival in the congressional race in Ormoc, Leyte for it. “I think it [disqualification case] is very personal because my opponent in Ormoc is very threatened. I know him personally and in all surveys conducted in our district, he’s running very low in his percentage," he said, referring to Winnie Codilla, a scion of a powerful family in the province. Gomez was at the Commission on Elections (Comelec) office in Manila Monday to attend the hearing on the disqualification case filed against him by a certain Buenaventura Juntilla. Juntilla, former chairman of the Barangay Libertad in Ormoc, accused Gomez of not being a bona fide resident of the town. He said the actor lacks the one-year residence required by the law. Juntilla also said Gomez resides in East Greenhills, San Juan and not in Can Adien, Ormoc as he claims on his certificate of candidacy. But Gomez, who is running under the Liberal Party, denied this, saying he’s been spending more time in Leyte – home province of his wife, Lucy Torres-Gomez – than in Manila since 2007. The actor said Codilla just wants him eliminated from the congressional race because of his good performance in the surveys. “(Codilla is) only running about 27-28 percent while I’m running 54 percent," he said. Codilla’s father, Eufrocino Codilla Sr., is the current congressman of the fourth district of Ormoc, where Gomez is running. Two of Codilla’s brothers, Eric and Elmer, are mayors of Ormoc and Kananga towns, respectively. Gomez expressed confidence that Comelec would rule in his favor. “Napakagaling ng mga kasama nating abogado, we are confident na talagang ang finile nilang kaso ay nuisance, panggulo lang (My lawyers are all good, we are confident that the case filed against me is just nuisance)," he said. In 2001, Gomez ran as party-list representative for Mamamayan Ayaw sa Droga (MAD), an anti-drug group which he headed. It earned a lot of votes but was later disqualified after it was later found that it was funded by the government. In 2007, he ran for senator as an independent candidate but was unsuccessful. - KBK, GMANews.TV