Caloocan vice mayor to resign if accusations vs Echiverri false

Caloocan Vice Mayor Edgar Erice on Thursday said he would step down if his accusations against Mayor Enrico Echiverri are proven false. Erice said there is nothing political about the complaint he filed against Echiverri before the Office of the Ombudsman earlier this month because he only had the welfare of government employees in mind, a report by Cesar Apolinario aired over GMA News TV's "Balitanghali" said. The vice mayor accused Echiverri of failing to remit P38 million of Caloocan government employees’ contributions to the Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) from July 1997 to December 2002 and from January 2007 until December last year.

The case prompted the Ombudsman to order last Monday the Caloocan mayor’s suspension for six months. Echiverri questioned the order before the Court of Appeals, claiming that he merely inherited the debt from predecessor Reynaldo Malonzo. He also claimed the remittances collected during his term were all remitted to GSIS. The Department of Interior and Local Government has yet to implement the Ombudsman’s preventive suspension order. The agency has until Saturday to suspend Echiverri. — Andreo Calonzo/RSJ, GMA News