City hall workers sue Erice

The accuser has become the accused.

Charges of falsification of public documents, dishonesty and grave misconduct have been filed against Caloocan Vice Mayor Edgar Erice and city council employees Eugene Lazir Mangaliman, Ma. Pilar Afan and Rosemarie Angeles.

The statement about the filing of charges came from the office

of Caloocan Mayor Recom Echiverri who is facing several graft cases in court with Erice as the complainant.

The statement identified the complainants as city hall employees Russel Ramirez, Kristine Abustan and Jesusa Garcia who filed the case with the Office of the Ombudsman on September 7.

Based on their complaint, Erice notified the mayor’s office in January about several vacant positions at the city council.

They added that last month, the vice mayor appointed Afan as clerk II, Angeles as storekeeper I and Mangaliman as audio visual equipment operator 3, in violation of a Civil Service Commission rule that appointees to the vacant posts should first be approved by the Caloocan City Personnel Selection Board (CCPSB).

The CCPSB was established by the city council through Resolution No. 1958 series of 2011 to screen potential employees for vacant positions.

The complainants added that the appointment papers signed by Erice stated that the three were screened by the board although they were not.

“Clearly, Edgar R. Erice, taking advantage of his position as Caloocan City vice mayor, knowingly, willfully and unlawfully committed the crime of Falsification of Public Documents defined and penalized under article 171, paragraph 2 and 4 of the Revised Penal Code,” they said.

Sought for comment, Erice said the mayor was harassing him because of the cases he had filed against Echiverri.