Political dynasty covered up corruption in San Juan —Zamora

The corrupt practices in the local government of San Juan City may have been covered up by the 50-year leadership of the Estradas, according to Mayor-elect Francis Zamora.

"Ngayon ko lang malalaman kung ano bang extent talaga ng nangyayari sa San Juan in the last 50 years because we never really had access to all of these," Zamora said in an interview in GMA News TV's Bawal ang Pasaway on Monday.

"Kaya naman ho gusto nila pagkatapos ng isa, 'yung susunod 'yung isa, syempre para maproteksyunan ho kung anuman yung nangyari noong nakaraang 50 taon," he added.

Zamora said that one of the projects of the past administration that he would like to be checked by the Commission on Audit (COA) was the construction of the San Juan Medical Center.

"The San Juan City government recently loaned P500 million. Ang ginawa ho nila sa building sila nag-focus pero para saan pa ang magandang building kung 'yung serbisyo hindi naman maayos?" he said.

"We have to be very transparent to our constituents. We will ask the COA to really audit. Kailangan ho aralin natin kung saan nga ba napunta ang pera ng mamamayan," he added.

His political rival, Janella Estrada, on the other hand said that the lack of funds was the reason why such loan was made.

"Hindi naman sana kailangan mangutang ng city government kung may congressman na nagbababa ng pondo. Kung may ambon na konti from Congress, sana 'di na po kami uutang sa Land Bank," she said.

Zamora's father, Ronaldo "Ronnie" Zamora was the incumbent congressman of San Juan City.

The younger Zamora had served as city councilor and vice mayor during the reign of the Estradas in San Juan.

He bared that the two political families had been close allies since 1978 but a decision of the Estradas in 2015 caused the rift between them.

"Nag-declare po si [dating] Pangulong Estrada na hindi raw po dapat mawala sa pamilya Estrada ang San Juan, so doon po nagsimula ang problema pagka't bago po noon mayroon pong commitment si Mayor Guia at ako po sa isa't isa na tatapusin po namin magkasama bilang mayor at vice mayor ang 2010 hanggang 2019 na termino namin," Zamora said.

Zamora added that outgoing Manila Mayor Joseph Estrada declared that his granddaughter Janella Estrada would be San Juan City Mayor Guia Gomez's running mate, completely leaving him out of the picture.

In 2016, Zamora ran against Gomez for the mayoral post and lost by only a thousand votes. He claimed that his defeat was a result of a massive vote-buying.

A recall petition against Mayor Gomez, signed by 30,000 residents, was filed with the Commission on Elections but the rigorous process prevented the move to materialize.

In the recent midterm elections, Zamora won the mayoral race against Janella Estrada. —Dona Magsino/LDF, GMA News