Aurora governor asks Ombudsman to reconsider suspension order

CITY OF SAN FERNANDO — Aurora Gov. Gerardo Noveras has asked the Office of the Ombudsman to reconsider its decision suspending him for nine months over the supposed use of his family’s dump trucks for a road rehabilitation project in 2014.

Noveras said he filed a motion for reconsideration on Feb. 6 after receiving the Jan. 15 decision of Ombudsman Conchita Carpio Morales on Jan. 29.

The governor described the suspension as “harsh,” saying he and his wife were not informed by their caretaker about an arrangement with Remnant Builders, the contractor of the P232,441 project at Dinalungan town in Aurora.

“The road project happened to be near a gasoline station that my wife was supplying with filling materials. The dump truck of the road contractor needed repair so he asked our caretaker to provide filling materials for two days since the road project and the gasoline station project had only one quarry source,” Noveras told the Inquirer last week.

The Ombudsman found Noveras’ admission of ownership of the trucks to be enough to hold him administratively liable, saying his claim of lack of knowledge was “untenable.”

“It is impossible for respondent to not have known that his dump trucks were used for the project considering their massive size and the project’s exposure to the public,” the decision said.

For the Ombudsman, the use of Noveras’ dump trucks “presumes that respondent received compensation therefrom.” —Reports from Tonette Orejas and Vince F. Nonato