Tabuk City, Kalinga – Tabuk City Information Office gets a tough question to answer after posting an editorial article attacking Atty. Errol Comafay Jr., a critic of Mayor Darwin Estranero while praising the Mayor.
In the post entitled “When the Rule of Law prevails, Justice is served!”, Tabuk CIO claimed that “Mayor Estranero sued Comafay and others in 2020 for cyber libel for posting malicious materials and even spoke on a radio station to explicitly accuse the Mayor of malfeasance (supposed overpriced scanner during the peak of the pandemic) without factual evidence.”
Tabuk CIO also went on saying that Comafay is playing the victim when he and his group has spent two years smearing the Mayor and making bogus claims, adding that the group used a variety of media to portray negative picture of the Mayor and his administration from social media to interviews to Guru Press.
In the article, Tabuk CIO stated the Mayor has been vindicated, quoting the Mayor having said that the case against Comafay “is a win for justice.”
The cyber libel case against Comafay comes from his strong criticisms against procurement of alleged overpriced medical supplies during the pandemic. One of the criticisms of Comafay involved the buying of a 12,000 pesos a piece thermal scanner whose market value is around 300-400 pesos. The ceiling price of DOH for thermal scanners similar to what Tabuk City LGU bought during that time was about 3,400. The defense of the Mayor aired over GMA
7's Saksi was that Tabuk City LGU bought the thermal scanners because there were no readily available stocks and situation then was between life and death.
The question that Tabuk City Information Office has to answer
Atty. Errol Comafay Jr. commented on the post of Tabuk City Information Office in defence for the Mayor. Comafay believes it is not the duty of Tabuk City Information Office to be used as an attack mouthpiece of the Mayor against his critics.
“By the way, is it the task of the City Information Office to speak on personal cases filed by the Mayor against private individuals?
Remember the cyber libel case filed by the Mayor against me is not a case filed by the City Government. It is a criminal case… personal case filed by the Mayor against me. Apo CIO, by your post, is the Mayor using the resources of government to continue attacking my person and reputation?” asked Comafay.
Guru Press Cordillera has reached out to Tabuk City Information Office regarding the editorial article and Comafay’s question.
The article was posted by Tabuk City Information Office around 6PM June 03, 2022. The said office turned off the comment section after the post was commented on by others with similar questions.
As of this writing, the graft and corruption charges against Mayor Estranero are still at the Office of the Ombudsman and none of them has been dismissed yet.
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