Quezon town mayor axed for defying CSC order

MANILA, Philippines – The Office of the Ombudsman yesterday dismissed the mayor of Atimonan town in Quezon province for refusing to comply with an order of the Civil Service Commission (CSC) to reinstate a municipal employee.

Ombudsman Conchita Carpio-Morales directed the Department of the Interior and Local Government to immediately remove Mayor Jose Mendoza from his post.

Aside from dismissal, the ombudsman disqualified Mendoza from holding public office, cancelled his eligibility, barred him from taking the civil service examinations and forfeited his retirement benefits.

State prosecutors said the mayor was guilty of gross neglect of duty and oppression for refusing to reinstate Romeo Parin, a driver of the municipal government dismissed by Mendoza in 2010.

Parin was compelled to file a case after the mayor rejected his plea to reconsider his dismissal.

The CSC ordered Parin reinstated with back wages in May 2013, but the mayor refused to do so.

Ex-Camarines gov gets jail term for falsification

The Sandiganbayan has sentenced former Camarines Norte governor Jesus Typoco Jr. to a maximum of eight years in prison for falsifying a purchase order for the procurement of medicine 10 years ago.

Provincial general services office chief Noel Reyes was also convicted of the crime for conspiring with Typoco.

Both were acquitted of the graft charges stemming from the same transaction, after the Sandiganbayan ruled that the criminal complaint filed against them was defective.

Associate Justice Efren dela Cruz said the accused changed the date of the purchase order from April 21, 2005 to May 20, 2005 in order to show that such was issued before the bidding was conducted on May 18 of the same year.

The Sandiganbayan said the two public officials conspired to alter the entries on a public document.

But Associate Justice Rodolfo Ponferrada said Typoco and Reyes could have committed graft when they awarded the contract without conducting a public bidding.

The anti-graft court acquitted former provincial health officer Arnulfo Salaguste, employee Aida Pandeagua and supplier Angelina Cabrera for insufficiency of evidence.

Suspended Ecija mayor reinstated

Meanwhile, in Nueva Ecija, Mayor Reynaldo Cachuela of Talugtug town, who was meted with a 90-day suspension by the anti-graft agency is now back in his post.

Cachuela and members of the municipal council were suspended on July 22 over the passage of a resolution that bore the signature of a councilor who was absent during the deliberation.

Aside from Cachuela, ordered reinstated on Friday were Councilors Flora Cinense, Maximo Ancheta Sr., Maximo Ulzano, Philip Bilegra and Leo Monta, and council secretary Norberto Baldovino. – With Manny Galvez