Ombudsman Conchita Carpio Morales has ordered the one-year suspension of Toledo City Mayor John Henry “Sonny” Osmeña, a former senator, over his alleged refusal to release the real property tax (RPT) share of a barangay in his city in Cebu province.
Osmeña was meted out the penalty after he was found guilty of the administrative offense of grave abuse of authority. Morales ordered the Department of the Interior and Local Government to implement the suspension order, which was immediately executory.
Osmeña, however, can still file an appeal, the Ombudsman said.
In Cebu, Osmeña said he had yet to receive any information on the suspension.
“Wala ko kahbaw ana (I don’t know about that). Wala ko kadawat og summons or pahibaw (I haven’t received any summons or information),” he said in a local radio interview.
Osmeña said he only inherited the case from the previous administration and said it was his duty to protect government funds and properties.
As for the criminal aspect, the Ombudsman found probable cause to order his indictment for six counts of violation of Section 3(e) of the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act, which prohibits public officials from causing undue injury to the government.
The case arose from Osmeña’s “consistent and undue refusal” to release the quarterly RPT shares of Barangay Daanlungsod for six consecutive quarters, from the third quarter of 2014 to the fourth quarter of 2015.
The withheld RPT shares amounted to P17.73 million, according to the Aug. 9 resolution, as cited in an Ombudsman statement on Tuesday.
Osmeña, however, justified his actions by citing the boundary dispute between the villages of Daanlungsod and Sangi. Since the case involving jurisdiction over various real properties was still pending in the Court of Appeals, he said he “only thought of protecting the city’s public funds.”
But the Ombudsman did not give credence to his reasoning, as the boundary dispute “had long been settled” when the Regional Trial Court in 2011 denied Barangay Sangi’s appeal on the Sangguniang Panlungsod’s Aug. 1, 2008 decision that favored Daanlungsod. —Reports from Vince F. Nonato and Jessa Mae Sotto