Cotabato rep Catamco ready to face charges at Sandiganbayan

KIDAPAWAN CITY – Cotabato 2nddistrict representative Nancy Catamco is set to face the charges filed against her at theSandiganbayanand in fact, she is already prepared for it, said his public affairs chief Jun Obello.Catamco faces one graft and two counts of malversation of funds in relation to a transaction she had with local officials of the municipality of Poro in Cebu, in 2004.Obello said that Catamco, then a private businesswoman, was selected by officials of Poro town to supply them of organic fertilizers, which, according to the Ombudsman, was overpriced.He also defended Catamco by saying that in 2004, his boss just acted as a supplier to the project of former Poro municipal mayor Edgar Rama. It was the LGU of Poro town that led the bidding and Catamco was just an observer, she, being a supplier only.The supplier, as practiced, will just follow the price of the government or from the results of the Bids and Awards committee, said Obello.At the height of the controversy in 2004, Obello said that Catamco was not even charged of any administrative case. Representative Catamco’s case was just simple but it became big because she is now a politician.The people of North Cotabato have nothing to worry about the case because it happened when Catamco was just an ordinary citizen, Obello stressed.Aside from Catamco, also charged were her former husband Pompey Perez, and former Poro, Cebu Mayor Rama.Also included in the charge sheet are ex-Poro officials Ronald Carcellar, Ruben Estrera, Gorgonita Gonzales, Sergio Zurita, Nilo Gorgonio, Gregorio Dorog and William Surbano.At that time, Catamco and Perez owned the Perzebros Company that supplied the LGU of Poro the supposed organic fertilizers.