Olongapo mayor rapped for defying health protocols

MANILA, Philippines — The Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) has filed administrative charges against Olongapo City Mayor Rolen Paulino Jr. for his alleged defiance of national health protocols in setting policies in his area.

Interior Undersecretary Jonathan Malaya said the charges filed in the Office of the Ombudsman were for gross neglect of duty, grave misconduct, violations of the Bayanihan to Heal as One Act and the law on mandatory reporting of notifiable diseases and health events, and open disobedience under Article 231 of the Revised Penal Code.

In a statement on Wednesday, Malaya, also the DILG spokesperson, said Paulino had been issuing policies for Olongapo which ran counter to the health protocols set by the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF) in fighting the COVID-19 pandemic.“We respect the DILG and we’re cooperating with the IATF. We already explained our side [about the issue on backriding],” Paulino said in statement on Wednesday.

Admonished

According to Malaya, Paulino had been admonished and warned by the agency in April for allowing a mass gathering during the distribution of the government’s cash aid for low income families in Olongapo.

He said the mayor again violated the IATF regulations when he issued on May 21 an executive order allowing angkas (pillion riding or backriding) on motorcycles in his city as “long as riders secured special passes from his office.”

When the DILG called his attention to the violation, Paulino issued another executive order suspending the enforcement of his May 21 directive “until such time it became consistent with national guidelines and regulations of the IATF and other concerned agencies.”

But Paulino said he immediately withdrew his executive order after the DILG notified him about the alleged violation.

He also said his office had “never issued passes that allowed motorcycle drivers to have backriders.”

Liability stays

Malaya said the issuance of the new order “did not extinguish the mayor’s liability for issuing an earlier order which violated a clear national policy prohibiting backriding.”

“In fact, in saying that the new order merely suspended the first order ‘until such time that it is consonant with national rules’ proves that he did not completely abandon the previous order,” he said.

Paulino said he had already told the DILG the reason he wanted to allow backriding. “Only members of the same household would be permitted as backriders and we could easily monitor its implementation considering we’re just a small city,” he said.

According to Paulino, he and city residents have been following the government’s health protocols. “The city has zero COVID-19 infection in the last four weeks and that’s proof of our discipline and cooperation,” he said.