Suspended mayor boasts of husband’s capability

CYNTHIA MORENO. TONEE DESPOJO/CDN

CEBU CITY—Suspended Mayor Cynthia Moreno of Aloguinsan, Cebu, said she is confident that her husband, the town’s vice mayor, would be a worthy temporary successor to her while she serves her suspension over a graft case.

Cynthia told Inquirer that her husband, Augustus, is an experienced official since he was the mayor before Cynthia took over.

Cynthia said, however, that transactions in the municipal government are likely to be disrupted because department heads involved in the graft case had been suspended with her.

The Department of the Interior and Local Government in Central Visayas served a 90-day suspension order on Cynthia for the purchase of P1.1 million worth of construction materials without public bidding in 2007.

Also suspended were municipal civil registrar Pepito Manguilimutan, municipal budget officer Nonila Villegas, municipal agricultural officer Marilyn Flordeliza, municipal assessor John Lim and municipal engineer Orvin Ningasca. Also involved are two utility workers—Gertrudes Ababon and Emelia Luz Celis.

Cynthia said her suspension is not a penalty but part of the process of investigation.

“I don’t think the suspension order served its purpose but we honor and respect it,” she said.

Cynthia said she believed that a political rival could be behind the effort to have her suspended. She refused to name names, however.

Felimon Georsua Jr., former town councilor and political rival of the Moreno couple, had filed the complaint against Cynthia for the purchase of materials for a new municipal hall without public bidding.

Cynthia denied the charge, claiming she has documents to present as proof that there was bidding for the materials.

The case of spouses holding the top two positions in a town is not unusual. In several towns in other provinces, families control local governments with fathers, mothers, sons and daughters or their first-degree relatives occupying positions.

Among the provinces where a single family wields political power is Samar, where the governor and vice governor are a brother-sister tandem and their mother is the representative in Congress.