Sibonga mayor cleared of misconduct charges

Citing lack of merit, the Ombudsman-Visayas recently cleared Sibonga town Mayor Nestor Ponce and seven municipal personnel.

Town resident Angel Codilla filed the charge against the mayor, municipal engineer Francisco Fuentes, four municipal workers, and two town policemen for demolishing a portion of his house last year, specifically the concrete fence and a recently-constructed terrace.

Codilla alleged that the demolition was politically motivated but Ombudsman graft prosecutor Alvin Cañares ruled that this claim was unsupported by evidence.

The Ombuds decision stated instead that "documentary and photographic evidences proved that Codilla abused his property rights by encroaching on the public road," and that the respondents had given him "every opportunity to correct" the defects.

Ponce, in his counter-affidavit, said the demolition was needed to give way to the completion of the town's drainage canal. The project affected several houses, Codilla's among these, which had encroached upon the municipal road.

On October 30, 2000, the municipal government wrote Codilla to make adjustments on the portion of his house that encroached upon the road.

Ponce said he even held in abeyance the demolition to give Codilla more time but let the town's engineers build the drainage canal under Codilla's terrace. This act even drew protests from other landowners that viewed it as partiality and accommodation to Codilla, said the mayor.

When it was time to rehabilitate the road network, it was found out that the canopy of Codilla's terrace had extended to the road and endangered passing vehicles.

Several demolition notices were sent to Codilla last year, on February 23, April 13, August 14 -all of which were ignored- and finally on August 16, the municipal personnel carried out the demolition.