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By Rommel C. Lontayao, Reporter
Four Manila city councilors have joined the call
for an impartial and independent investigation on the alleged
bribery attempts involving City Hall officials and garbage
collection contractor Leonel Waste Management Corp.
Manila councilors Ernesto Dionisio (First
District), Numero Lim (Second District), Jong Isip (Third District),
and Josie Siscar (Fifth District) said an investigation must be
started the soonest to determine who among City Hall officials and
councilors received P300,000 in alleged bribes given to approve the
P600-million garbage contract with Leonel for this year.
The councilors backed Mayor Alfredo Lim, who
earlier issued a challenge to city officials who admitted being
offered bribes, to initiate a probe on the controversy.
“We really need to conduct an investigation on
the issue because even our names as councilors are being dragged
into this controversy. This affects our credibility as elected
public officials,” Siscar said.
The councilors are also asking Manila Vice-Mayor
Isko Moreno, the City council’s presiding officer, to form a
committee that will independently investigate on the alleged
bribery.
Moreno, in a previous interview with The Manila
Times, admitted that he was offered bribe money placed inside a
paper bag by people who were reportedly lobbying for the approval of
Leonel’s garbage contract with the city government.
He said he declined to accept the bribe money
and ordered it returned.
Need for thorough investigation
Lim said that a thorough investigation on the
issue must be conducted to determine who really are the persons or
groups behind the alleged bribery.
He even said that based on what he heard, it was
not Leonel but another firm that was allegedly giving bribes.
Leonel is Manila’s lone garbage contractor
since 1993, which earlier denied resorting to bribe attempts for
their contract with the Manila City government to be approved.
There were even reports that Leonel is not
involved in the bribe attempt and that a former councilor from
Manila’s Fifth District had been lobbying for the approval of the
firm’s garbage contract.
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