Sandigan suspends municipal mayor in Surigao for graft involving sister

Sandiganbayan in Quezon City (File photo by NIÑO JESUS ORBETA / Philippine Daily Inquirer)

The Sandiganbayan ordered the 60-day suspension pending litigation (pendente lite) of San Benito, Surigao del Norte town Mayor Rushford Dedumo over graft charges involving his own sister.

A release from the Office of the Ombudsman said Dedumo was being tried for violation of Section 3(e) the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act (Republic Act No. 3019).

The Sandiganbayan has directed the Department of the Interior and Local Government Secretary Eduardo Año to implement the suspension order.

Last January 2017, the Ombudsman filed charges against Dedumo for appointing his sister, Flordeliza Coro, as a municipal consultant without any appropriate authority.

Dedumo was also alleged to have caused undue injury to the municipality when he allowed Coro to obtain a cash advance for travel expenses worth P22,760.00 despite not being an employee of the municipality.

“Under Section 13 of R.A. No. 3019, any incumbent public officer against whom any criminal prosecution under a valid information under this Act or under Title 7, Book II of the Revised Penal Code or for any offense involving fraud upon government or public funds or property whether as a simple or as a complex offense and in whatever stage of execution and mode of participation, is pending in court, shall be suspended from office,” the office of Ombudsman Conchita Carpio-Morales reiterated. /jpv