MAYOR Jose Mendoza of Atimonan, Quezon province, was ordered dismissed and banned from holding public office again by the Ombudsman for allegedly refusing to reinstate an illegally dismissed municipal employee.
Mendoza was the fourth elected official to be meted such punishment by Ombudsman Conchita Carpio Morales this month as the election season got under way.
Mendoza is serving a nine month-suspension order from the Ombudsman for another administrative case filed by another group of municipal employees.
In a statement on Tuesday, Morales said she dismissed Mendoza for gross neglect of duty and oppression because he defied the order of the Civil Service Commission (CSC) to reinstate a municipal driver whom he fired in 2010.
Morales said the CSC had ruled in Romeo Parin’s favor and ordered the mayor to reinstate Parin with back wages.
She said the CSC last May 2013 granted Parin’s petition to execute the reinstatement but the order “remained unexecuted until September 2014.”
Morales said Mendoza “blatantly refused to reinstate [Parin] and to pay him back wages without justifiable reason.”
She added that Mendoza’s “show of arrogance and persistent disregard of lawful orders of a constitutional body continued while serving anew as mayor of Atimonan.”
The punishment of dismissal also came with perpetual disqualification from holding public office, cancellation of eligibility, disqualification from taking the civil service examinations and forfeiture of retirement benefits.
Morales said she had ordered Interior Secretary Mel Senen Sarmiento to immediately implement the dismissal.
Mendoza is on his last term, having defeated the same candidate of the administration Liberal Party in the last two elections.
Last month, he began to serve his nine month-suspension without pay.
The Department of the Interior and Local Government implemented the suspension order last month, ordering Atimonan Vice Mayor Joel Vergano to assume as mayor in an acting capacity.
In Lucena City, Mendoza said he had directed his lawyer to appeal the Ombudsman decision that perpetually barred him from holding public office.
“I’ve already directed my lawyer to submit an appeal to the Ombudsman decision,” Mendoza said in phone interview.
His lawyer, Vicente Joyas, said they had submitted the motion for reconsideration on Oct. 26.
In 2010, Atimonan municipal employees Maria Dalisay Diestro and Teresa Fortifaez charged Mendoza for alleged oppression, misconduct and abuse of authority after the mayor ordered the town cashier to withhold their salaries.
Mendoza eventually revoked the permanent appointments of the complainants on the ground that their appointing authority, then Vice Mayor Nestor Parafina, had no authority to issue an appointment.
Mendoza, a lawyer and former judge, was reelected Atimonan mayor in the 2013 elections.
He subsequently filed a motion for reconsideration and also managed to stop the implementation of the suspension order then by securing a temporary restraining order (TRO) from the Regional Trial Court in Lucena in April.
But the Ombudsman now maintained that the TRO had already been lifted on Aug. 17.
This month, the Ombudsman dismissed and perpetually banned from holding public office three elected officials namely Makati Mayor Jejomar Erwin “Junjun” Binay for anomalous public bidding for the Makati car park building; Masbate Gov. Rizalina Seachon-Lañete for the anomalous use of her P112.29-million Priority Development Assistance Fund from 2007 to 2009; and Capiz Gov. Victor Tanco Jr. for allegedly extorting P3 million from a contractor. With a report from Delfin Mallari Jr., Inquirer Southern Luzon