Ombudsman seeks suspension of Tayabas mayor

The Office of the Ombudsman is seeking the preventive suspension of the local officials of Tayabas, Quezon, who were indicted for graft in the Sandiganbayan for hiring a private lawyer.

In a motion, Ombudsman prosecutors asked the antigraft court’s Fourth Division to temporarily bar from holding public office Mayor Faustino Silang, Vice Mayor Luzminda Cuadra and city councilors Venerando Rea, Rex Abadilla, Abelardo Abrigo Jr. and Macario Reyes.

The state prosecutors cited a Supreme Court ruling that public officials facing trial should be suspended to prevent them from “hampering (their) prosecution by intimidating or influencing witnesses, tampering with documentary evidence or committing further acts of malfeasance while in office.”

“Considering the nature of the indictment and the validity of both information filed against all accused, their suspension pendente lite (pending trial) is mandatory,” they said.

The prosecution also cited the Anti-graft and Corrupt Practices Act provision stating that incumbent public officials should be preventively suspended from their posts while undergoing trial for a criminal offense.

The Ombudsman had filed two counts of graft against Silang and the other local officials of Tayabas for hiring the services of lawyer Jose Salvacion in 2011.

It said the mayor and the members of the city council approved the payment of P18,000 in monthly fees to Salvacion in performing legal services for the city government as a private lawyer.

Under another provision of the Local Government Code, Silang et al should have designated a city legal officer instead of contracting the services of a private counsel, the state prosecutors said.