SUPPORTERS of former San Juan City vice mayor Francis Zamora on Wednesday filed a recall petition against incumbent Mayor Guia Gomez whom they accused of being corrupt and abusive.

FIGHT STARTS A supporter of former San Juan City vice mayor Francis Zamora (third from left) carries documents containing the thousands of signatures which were submitted along with the petition for recall field against Mayor Guia Gomez. PHOTO BY ROGER RANADA

In a 19-page petition for recall, the petitioners led by Sophia Patricia Gil, village councilor of Barangay Progreso Raul Sevilla, MZ Ver Neighborhood Association sa Barangay Kabayanan president Raymond Alzona, and Barangay Corazon de Jesus zone leader Jun Paul Aquino, sought the removal of Gomez for “graft and corruption, abuse of power, negligence of duty, and for having lost the voters’ trust and confidence.”

A recall election is a procedure provided under the Local Government Code to remove certain elected officials, such as mayors.

In an interview, Zamora said the petitioners claimed to have garnered 30,000 signatures.

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“I am one of the 30,000 voters who signed the signature campaign because I also believe that the present leader of our city has lost the trust and confidence of the people. This election recall petition has been signed by thousands of people of San Juan,” Zamora said.

“This is not about the Zamoras against the Estradas anymore. It has become the people of San Juan versus the Estradas. A lot of people want to see change in San Juan, and their sentiments remain the same. They are now moving on their own to achieve change,” the former vice mayor said.

Gomez had a relationship with former president Joseph Estrada when he was the mayor of San Juan. They have a son, Sen. Joseph Victor Ejercito.

Zamora claimed that Gomez protected the drug syndicates in San Juan, citing the P6 billion worth of shabu seized in the city in the past few months.

“It is impossible that the mayor doesn’t know this [drug trade] because it happened only meters away from her house. I think no one should be brave enough to store P6 billion worth of shabu if they feel they are not safe there,” Zamora said.

Gomez is on vacation outside the country but the city government issued a statement in her behalf.

Grace Cortes-Pardines, public information chief of San Juan, said the recall petition filed by the mayor’s opponents was a “desperate move” to get back to power and to hinder the development of the city.

Zamora, who lost to Gomez by a slim margin in the election last year, claimed that the camp of Gomez was involved in massive vote-buying.