Anakalusugan party-list Rep. Mike Defensor and Councilor Winnie Castelo will file their certificates of candidacy today (Wednesday) for Quezon City mayor and vice mayor, respectively.
The Defensor-Castelo tandem will be leading Malayang Quezon City, a broad united opposition coalition that is fielding a full local slate in the 2022 elections.
The coalition includes incumbent and reelectionist Quezon City Representatives Anthony Peter “Onyx” Crisologo (first district); Precious Hipolito-Castelo (second district); and Allan Reyes (third district).
The alliance is also fielding Councilor Marvin Rillo as congressional candidate for the fourth district of Quezon City; Rose Lin as congressional candidate for the fifth district; and former Rep. Vincent “Bingbong” Crisologo as congressional candidate for the sixth district.
The fifth and sixth congressional districts will be vacated by representatives who shall have fully served their three consecutive three-year terms in Congress.
Earlier, Defensor, Crisologo, Hipolito-Castelo and Reyes have called for an inquiry into the alleged anomalous procurement by the Quezon City government of 350,000 grocery packs worth a total of P403 million, which they claimed was overpriced by a whopping 44 percent or by as much as P179 million.
In House Resolution No. 2184, the four lawmakers urged the appropriate congressional committee to investigate the purchase of the overpriced grocery bundles meant as “ayuda” or relief goods for families reeling from the COVID-19 pandemic.
“The groceries were acquired at a price of P1,149.98 per pack. However, upon inspection of the items, these could have been easily bought off the shelf from any supermarket at a total cost of no more than P636 per pack,” the House members said in their resolution.
Quezon City legal head Orlando Casimiro, however, said the accusations were mere propaganda.
“As the election season intensifies, certain individuals are once again making false allegations against the Quezon City Government, in a bitter attempt to advance their political agenda,” Casimiro said in a statement denying the alleged overpricing in the procurement of the grocery packs.
Casimiro said since the items were brought in December last year, the prices were “much higher.”
“The prices of goods at the time the purchase order was made were clearly not the same, in fact much higher, than the current market prices that this group is ridiculously using as a reference,” Casimiro said.
