La Castellana Mayor Rhumyla Nicor-Mangilimutan yesterday defended her father, former La Castellana Mayor Alberto A. Nicor, Jr., who faces three charges of graft before the Sandiganbayan Third Division in relation to the issuance of permits to himself and his wife back in 2013.

The current mayor claimed the transactions were made in “good faith.”

She also argued, “My father, as an undefeated mayor of our town for nine years, the legacy he left in La Castellana, I hope the Sandiganbayan can see this.”

According to Assistant Special Prosecutor III Jorge B. Espinal, who filed the charges against the former mayor, claimed Nicor “took advantage of his position” through the issuance of a permit that allowed his wife, Noeme Nicor, to operate a hollow blocks business.

He said the act intervened with his official capacity as mayor, explaining, since he had “direct financial or pecuniary interest” in the business, the permit issuance was deemed “detrimental to public interest.”

Espinal said Nicor took similar actions when he also granted himself and a business partner permits to run a trucking business.

“[The] law is harsh,” Nicor-Mangilimutan asserted./DGB, WDJ