Aloguinsan Vice Mayor Cynthia Moreno has asked the Visayas Ombudsman if it would be possible to convert a suspension order of town officials to a one-year fine.
Moreno made the request in case the order to suspend seven town officials would be implemented.
Deputy Visayas Ombudsman Pelagio Apostol told Cebu Daily News that Moreno made the request because the suspension of the seven officials would hamper the town’s operations.
Moreno cited as example the case of engineer Orven Nengasca, Aloguinsan’s municipal engineer.
Moreno’s request came after Apostol received a letter dated March 1, 2012 from lawyer Jose Ronald Bersales of the Office of the Ombudsman requesting him to act on the Oct. 7, 2009 decision to suspend the seven town officials for dishonesty and misconduct within five days.
The officials involved are Nengasca; Pepito Manguilimotan, municipal civil registrar and Bids and Awards Committee (BAC) chairman; Nonela Villegas, municipal budget officer; Marilyn Flordeliza, municipal Agricultural officer; John Lim, municipal assessor; Emilia Luz Celis and GertrudesAbabon, utility workers and BAC members.
The decision to suspend was based on the complaint filed by Georsua for the officials’ purchase of aluminum composite panels (ACP) amounting to P1,190,037.50 to clad their new municipal building in 2007. The order, however, wasn’t implemented.
This prompted the complainant, former councilor Felimon Georsua Jr., to write a letter to the Tanodbayan Conchita Carpio-Morales.
Former Mayor Cynthia Moreno was also a respondent of the case. She was, however, excluded in the suspension order after she ran and won as mayor in the 2007 elections.
Under the Aguinaldo Doctrine, all administrative cases filed against any public official during his or her previous term are considered “moot” after the official’s reelection.
With the endorsement letter, Apostol said yesterday he would intensify his investigation with the present Aloguinsan Mayor Augustus Cesar Moreno, who is Vice Mayor Cynthia’s husband.
Apostol said he would wait for Mayor Moreno’s reply on the administrative case filed against him by Georsua for not implementing the suspension order.
Apostol said if he couldn’t justify his actions, then he could be charged with grave abuse or simple misconduct, which would carry a penalty of suspension ranging from one month to six months.
Apostol also said that Vice Mayor Moreno’s request would be referred to the Central Office in Manila.
“If you suspend an employee who heads a department, then your public services will really be affected. They already asked Civil Service and they were told that the positions of the officials who were ordered suspended cannot be given to their casual employees,”Apostol said./Correspondent Patricia Andrea Pateña