Cadio smokes peace pipe with Syjuco

After growling and snarling like a fierce and angry tiger, super mayor Arcadio Gorriceta has rapidly transformed into a meek kitten with a gentle meow when he struck a peace deal with TESDA secretary general Augusto Boboy Syjuco just recently.

This was confirmed by Syjuco publicist Herbert Vego in his column, Powwow, in the Daily Guardian newspaper.

The way Vego put it, Gorriceta backtracked from his previous hardline stance against the Syjuco couple and licked their asses just so he could get his hands on the P308 million Paglaum rehabilitation fund intended for damaged infrastructure as a result of Typhoon Frank last year.

It was only five months ago when Gorriceta viciously attacked the Syjuco couple for supposedly taking away from him a P10-million rehabilitation fund to repair the damaged Tigum-Pagsangaan-Cabugao Norte provincial road in Pavia. Gorriceta had wanted to handle the implementation, and he was angry when the DPWH started to implement the project, as the funds came from the agency’s rehabilitation fund. He even coined the term, “dakal-dakal” road, to ridicule the Syjucos’s proposed rehabilitation of the road only with sand and gravel.

Gorriceta, in a manner of speaking, was all thunder and lightning in denouncing the Syjucos. He painted the couple as the devil incarnate on this earth.

But the situation has changed, according to Vego. As he put it, Gorriceta has learned to mind his own business. No longer is Gorriceta calling the Syjucos unprintable words and ugly names. He has zippered his mouth shut. He has swallowed his pride and supplicated before the Syjucos. Why so? Because Gorriceta will do anything to get a piece of the Paglaum rehabilitation funds. He wants to make peace with the Syjucos so he doesn’t end up empty handed.

In the eyes of most people, this would be like swallowing his own bile. This would show Gorriceta to be a truly unprincipled man who will do anything and everything for his personal gain.

No wonder a lot of people in Iloilo who know the real character of Cadio Gorriceta only display contempt and disgust for him.

Blog versus blog: Cadio’s counter-offensive Part II

Now Cadio is showing greater interest in blogs as a vehicle for information dissemination. He has hired a mercenary to put up a counter-blog against Pavia Watch, Diskartidor and Boy Mejorada. And of course, Boboy Syjuco. This is great for democracy. What has happened is that in the past two days, the “hits” of this blog rose to a record average of 50 a day. That means 50 people are viewing this blog every day and opening the documents showing the grand theft committed by Cadio nine years ago. Thanks for the advertisement. Keep it up Cattleya.

Cadio’s mouthpiece complains about the “campaign to destroy” the super mayor. A little lecture is in order here. You Cattleya, no amount of muckraking can destroy a person if the issues thrown are falsehoods and lies. This has been proven in the case of Gov. Tupas and Boy Mejorada who survived the relentless attacks of Novie Guazo and Rhod Tecson for over four years now. Nobody could dispute that Bombo Radyo was an effective vehicle for spreading information, good or bad. But Tupas easily won the 2004 and 2007 elections, posting the biggest margin of victory in Iloilo politics. In the end, truth will triumph.

In the case of the Panay Fed affair, what is being presented here is the ugly side of a person who markets himself as a super clean and super good politician. At the risk of sounding like a broken record, Cadio stole P1.3 million from Panay Fed, and he would have gotten away with it had it not been for a super efficient accounting system in the organization. In fact, when it was first brought up at a board meeting, Cadio kept quiet and pretended not to know anything about it. It was only when Ely Bagtasus presented the receipts that found its way into this blog that he reluctantly pleaded guilty.

But even after he agreed to restitute the money, and issued two post-dated checks, Cadio still had the gall to commit yet another felony — he broke into the Panay Fed offices and stole the second check. Too bad for him, the office watch man saw him and reported the incident. What Cadio did was replace the stolen check with several smaller amounts spread over one year.

Atty. Aloysius de la Cruz wasn’t exactly lying when he said that Cadio was “cleared of all obligations” with Panay Fed. That’s only because the whole amount was paid up — after a year.

If Cadio could do this as a private individual, this blog is just raising questions about how he would behave now that he is the mayor of Pavia. Has he changed his ways? Has he repented his sins of the past and walked down a straight path of honesty and integrity? It’s that simple. It’s not about Syjuco or Boy Mejorada or Governor Tupas or Mayor Boboy Tupas. This is a valid concern, and I’m suspicious about Cadio because he’s been trying to bury the documents and the incident. He could not even tell the public that the story is a falsehood. He cannot even tell us that the documents posted here are forgeries.

The whole affair betrays a serious character flaw in Cadio Gorriceta.

Meanwhile, I’m enjoying the newfound popularity of this blog. I’ll keep my readers entertained and informed about the truth. As Cattleya may have noticed, this blog sticks only to issues that have documentary basis. No “tsismis”.

Cadio’s counter offensive

Cadio Gorriceta has realized the extreme potency of blogs as an effective vehicle for information dissemination. This, he saw clearly in the victory of Barack Obama in the U.S. presidential elections. Pavia being a middle class community, Cadio understands that he cannot ignore blogs like Pavia Watch in exposing his venalities. So he has hired mercenary media hacks to wage a counter offensive. These are the same hacks who write the praises about Cadio in Panay News, esp. in Lapsus.

But Cadio must understand that it’s not a matter of throwing mud at his enemies. He has to answer the issues aboiut him. And the biggest issue remains the P1.3 million Panay Fed caper. Until now, Cadio has chosen to keep eerily quiet about the issue that he stole the money of Panay Fed nine years ago, and would have gotten away had the theft not been discovered by accident. DID THIS HAPPEN OR NOT? Simple. ARE THE DOCUMENTS SHOWING THAT HIS WIFE, DAUGHTER, DRIVER AND HIMSELF WITHDRAW THE MONEY FROM ELY BAGTASUS AUTHENTIC OR NOT? If these are forgeries, then he should say so. But he is pretending that these documents are buried deep in the ground. Sorry to tell him, but it’s now the most popular story in the web. Cadio is the most popular super mayor, just the way he wants it.

We are waiting for Cadio’s answer.

cattleya’s revenge

Super Mayor Cadio Gorriceta has found an ally to post pro-Cadio comments and lambast this writer and other writers who are joining the blogwagon exposing the venalities of Pavia’s local chief executive. Her name is Cattleya. She challenges us to go ahead, file charges against the super mayor, using the documents we have posted on this blog about the now infamous Thomas Crown affair that rocked the Panay Fed nine years ago.

Abi ni Cattleya, wala kita naka-intindi lang laye. The crime was committed nine years ago. The offended party was the Panay Federation of Sugar Planters. The evidence have been taken, by gentle persuasion and literal begging, by the super mayor from the person from whom he had taken the money. Under the circumstances, no criminal action could prosper. Next time, mag-challenge ka, inang doable naman.

If no criminal action is feasible under the circumstances, what’s the point of reviving this issue about Cadio’s stealing P1.3 million?

Simple, Cattleya!

If Cadio could commit such a crime when he was just a direcctor of a private organization, then we can almost be sure the temptation is greater now that he is super mayor!

And why has he gone to great extents to cajole and plead and threaten Panay Fed to issue the “cleared of any obligation” statement, and to totally sidestep the question about whether the theft happened in the first place? Why hasn’t he stepped forward to confront the issue? He could make a statement that there was no theft in the first place, that these documents are forgeries. But why stoke the fire, when the bulls are all asleep? Cadio is afraid somebody will step forward and attest to the truth of the whole episode.

Is Cadio clean?

No, the Commission on Audit has found numerous faults in the spending of public funds. That will see the light of day soon. Don’t worry. You can monitor this blog day and night so you won’t be the last to know.

Why has Cadio built a house of a Mrs. Ramos in Tigum?

Because Mrs. Ramos complained on RATSADA TV that Cadio had neglected to look after them despite their tragic loss of kin. Cadio ranted that the RATSADA TV report was orchestrated by the reporter named Mark Nuneza, not knowing that he was falsely accusing a well-meaning reporter. He virtually accused RATSADA of being paid to destroy him. What does he think he is? The President?

Just be patient, Cattleya. You’ll find out more about super mayor.

The burning issue refuses to die down

More than a week after the “smoking gun” letter of tractor supplier Ely Bagtasus to the Panay Federation of Sugar Farmers, Inc. (Panay Fed) came out on this blog, the question has lingered on whether its corporate secretary, Atty. Aloysius de la Cruz, was telling the truth or not when he “cleared” super mayor Arcadio Gorriceta of “any outstanding obligations.”

The statement made by Atty. de la Cruz sidestepped the issue of whether the attempted qualified theft took place in the first place, in which the total amount of P1.3 million was improperly taken by Cadio from Bagtasus on the pretext that he was going to endorse it back to Panay Fed. When the scam was discovered, Cadio was forced to issue several post-dated checks to liquidate the entire amount. Cadio insists that he has done nothing wrong.

But there is almost nothing you can hide in the Internet, and after a brief wait, another set of documents has come to the surface, and this time, there is no doubting that Cadio had taken the money, and would have kept quiet about it had it not been the other members complained about the figures that appeared in their individual accounts as unpaid loans.

The attached .PDF file shows several receipts, both handwritten and typewritten, that documents the amounts taken by Cadio, through his wife, Suzette, and daughter, and driver, from Bagtasus. All in all, the total amount of money reached P1.3 million.

Just click on the link below to view the receipts:

phi-beta-enterprises-receipts

The ’smoking gun’ letter to Panay Fed

Cadio Gorriceta might want to explain the meaning of this letter by Ely Bagtasus of the Phi Beta Enterprises dated April 10, 2002 to Panay Federation of Sugarcane Farmers, Inc., attention: Atty. Aloysius P. C. de la Cruz II, Corporate Secretary. To see the .pdf copy, just click on the link below:

letter-phi-beta

Moroy the Wounded

I am a native of Pavia, Iloilo and I was introduced to blogging by The Daily Guardian when it ran a story about the “smear campaign” against Mayor Arcadio Gorriceta. Just today, I read an article in “Steve’s Musings” that I feel deserves to be read by the people of Pavia:

MOROY THE WOUNDED

Moroy Hudieras is a simple man from Tigum, Pavia. But in 1998, he shot to prominence in Pavia, Iloilo after armed goons barged into his home one evening and threatened him to stop campaigning for then congressional candidate Boboy Syjuco and mayoralty candidate Bing Gonzaga. Hudieras was one of the hardest working campaigners of the Gonzaga camp, that’s why. He happened to be one of the top political lieutenants of Arcadio “Cadio” Gorriceta, the man behind Gonzaga’s candidacy.

A fierce Gorriceta loyalist, Hudieras refused to be intimidated. To the surprise of the armed goons, Hudieras leaped at one of them and tried to grab his cal. 38 revolver. But the trigger finger moved faster, and three shots rang out in the stillness of the night. Moroy was hit in the belly, and he fell to the floor, mortally wounded. Those gunshots was heard not just in Tigum, but in the entire second district, because it symbolized the terror tactics that the political enemies of Cadio Gorriceta were willing to employ. Everybody in Pavia knew about it.

But Cadio Gorriceta seems to have amnesia. Yesterday, Oct. 14, Cadio was interviewed by Aksyon Radyo’s Joel Tormon to get his reaction on the oppression and harassment complaint filed by Rodolfo “Moroy” Hudieras against the municipal mayor. Gorriceta had ordered Moroy to be assigned to lift garbage cans despite his full knowledge that the utility worker was weak as a result of those bullet wounds 10 years ago. He wanted to harass Moroy for refusing to denounce Syjuco. This was the punishment of a vindictive mayor who cannot tolerate subordinates having other loyalties than to him.

To the surprise of the people of Pavia, Gorriceta told a big lie when he said he was not aware that Moroy Hudieras was a shooting victim 10 years ago, and that his medical condition continued to be closely monitored by his doctor. “How can I possibly know each one of the 300 employees in the municipal government?” he lied through his teeth. Not even Bing Gonzaga, the articulate Sanggunian Bayan and staunch Gorrceta supporter, could stomach such lie. So Gonzaga called up Tormon and admitted that Moroy Hudieras is “close” to the mayor. It was his gentle way of refreshing the poor memory of the super mayor.

It’s a good thing that this capacity of Cadio Gorriceta to tell blatant lies was exposed to the public. This is the true character of the man — arrogant, manipulator, exploiter, schemer, liar, and thief.

He can afford to deny his friendship with a man who almost lost his life for the political cause of Cadio Gorriceta. He can also afford to betray the trust and confidence of the people of Pavia.