MANILA, Philippines--A storm is brewing anew in Makati City?s richest barangay as residents claimed its suspended barangay chair illegally took over operations on Thursday without a directive from the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG).
A group of 15 residents from San Lorenzo Village in Barangay San Lorenzo on Friday said Joshua John Santiago did not follow procedure when he ?forcibly? took over the barangay hall, bearing only a resolution from the Office of the President (OP) on the administrative case against him.
?The decision of Malacañang is not self-executory. Decisions of the OP on matters concerning local government officials are supposed to be implemented by the DILG,? said Andres Fornier, lawyer of five barangay officers.
They claimed Santiago?s takeover was ?premature? since the DILG had not been directed by the OP to reinstate Santiago and lift the suspension order previously issued to him.
Moves restricted
?The movement of barangay staff was impeded and entry to the barangay office, including the clinic, was severely restricted by Mr. Santiago and his companions,? said acting barangay chair Ernesto Moya and kagawad Jocelyn Hernandez, Guia Laguio-Flaminiano, Brigido Sibug and Norman Golez in a letter addressed to Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita, also a resident of the village.
Santiago, for his part, said he was ?vindicated? by the resolution signed by Deputy Executive Secretary for Legal Affairs Natividad Dizon, who junked the opposing camp?s motion for reconsideration.
?We should all respect the decision of the OP. If they feel strongly about it, then they should file a case,? he told Inquirer.
He added that the villagers should stop ?rumor mongering? and instead bring their issues to the proper forum.
Suspension
In April, Santiago was ordered suspended by the city council after he was found guilty of purchasing and failing to install 670 pieces of lampposts worth P24 million; issuing a P5.8 million check for a ?nonexistent? commuter shed; and issuing a P300,000 check in the name of the Down Syndrome Association of the Philippines (DSAP).
Santiago brought the administrative matter to the OP, and on Aug. 20, Ermita exonerated him from the lamppost and commuter-shed issues but found him guilty of ?simple misconduct? for the check issued to DSAP.
Ermita later stopped the implementation of the decision until the resolution signed by Dizon came about, citing a Supreme Court ruling saying that a motion for reconsideration is a ?prohibitive pleading? in cases appealed to the OP.
Though the barangay officials claimed this was allowed under Sec. 7 of Administrative Order No. 18 of 1987, the deputy executive secretary said the Local Government Code of 1991 prevailed over the order.
The motion for reconsideration was received a day beyond the prescribed 15-day period to file an appeal, Dizon added.
?We intend to bring this to the Court of Appeals. In the meantime, we will ask the OP to suspend the implementation of the order. We will ask them to cite Mr. Santiago in contempt for deliberately taking the law in his own hands,? said Fornier.
The Department of Interior and Local Government confirmed yesterday that they had not yet received any directive reinstating Santiago from Malacañang.
?I told him to show me the order from Malacañang by Monday because we do not have a copy,? said DILG-Makati Director Felicidad Bite, who went to San Lorenzo?s barangay hall 3 p.m. yesterday. ?He (Santiago) promised he would step down at noon if there was no directive by then.?
Bite said she was asked by DILG Undersecretary Eduardo Soliman Jr., DILG-NCR director, to tell Santiago that the DILG had not received any order from Malacañang on his case.
Despite having a resolution from the OP, she said Santiago should have waited for the DILG to install him again as barangay chair.
