Ecija mayor, 5 councilors suspended

TALUGTUG, Nueva Ecija, Philippines – The Office of the Ombudsman has ordered the suspension of the mayor, five municipal councilors and the secretary of the Sangguniang Bayan (SB) of this town for grave abuse of authority and grave misconduct.

Mayor Reynaldo Cachuela; Councilors Flora Cinense, Maximo Ancheta Sr., Maximo Ulzano, Philip Bilegra  and Leo Monta; and SB secretary Norberto Baldovino were ordered suspended for 90 days without pay.      

Abraham Pascua, Department of the Interior and Local Governments assistant regional director for Central Luzon and concurrent DILG provincial director, served yesterday the suspension order issued by Deputy Ombudsman for Luzon Gerard Mosquera on June 23.

A separate order  issued by DILG regional director Florida Dijan installed Vice Mayor Benjamin Gamit Jr. and Councilor Alberto Estillore as acting mayor and vice mayor, respectively.

The officials defied the suspension order, saying they were not given a chance to air their side.

”There is travesty of justice,” Cachuela said.

Ancheta said they were not furnished a copy of the complaint.

The suspensions stemmed from the complaints filed on April 11 by Gamit, Estillore  and Councilor Gerry Agpalo, accusing the respondents of passing a resolution with the signature of a councilor who was absent during the deliberations.

The resolution denied the appointment of Jasmine Tobias as municipal budget officer. The complainants said the resolution did not reflect the consensus during the April 20 session of the SB. They said the document was falsified when the signature of Cinense was forged to meet the required number of votes.