Rama Eyes Sc Intervention: DILG fails to enforce suspension

CEBU, Philippines — Despite multiple attempts to serve the six-month preventive suspension against Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama and seven other City Hall officials, the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG)-7 failed to implement the Ombudsman order because no officials were present to receive the notices.

DILG-7 Regional Director Leocadio Trovela arrived at the Cebu City Hall around 11:30 a.m.  yesterday but no one was there at the Office of the Mayor to receive the order.

Trovela and his team went to the office of Atty. Collin Rosell, city administrator, who is one of the respondents, but the employees there declined to receive the order.

After several attempts at having the documents officially received, Trovela and his team posted copies of the notices outside the Office of the City Assessor’s door at around 12:40 p.m.

The notices were for City Assessor Therese Rosell, the wife of Atty. Rosell, and for Francis May Jacaban, Office of the City Assessor assistant department head.

At 2 p.m., Trovela and his team left the Cebu City Hall, but not after dropping by again at the Office of the City Mayor and at the Human Resource Development Office (HRDO).

In an interview with the media, Trovela explained that as of yesterday, the suspension has not been made official yet because the order was not received.

“We tried. Pumunta kami sa Office of the Mayor kanina….anong options pa,” he said.

As for the posted notices at the City Assessor’s Office, Trovela said that it only served as notice of the suspension and not the actual implementation of the suspension.

The “notice” stated that “(i)n considering that said Order is immediately executory, you are hereby directed to cause the immediate implementation of the aforesaid Ombudsman Order upon respondents Michael L. Rama, Collin E. Rosell, Maria Theresa C. Rosell, Francis May L. Jacaban, Angelique B. Cabugao, Jay-Ar B. Pescante, Lester Joey O. Beniga, Nelyn P. Sanrojo”.

“The intention is to serve it preventive suspension order) personally kaya pumunta kami sa office (sa City Hall). Babalik and i-exhaust namin lahat para ma-receive ang notice personally,” he further said.

Trovela, however said, that there are other options, including sending the order through registered mail.

“As of now, hindi namin sya na served, personally,” said Trovela when interviewed around 2 p.m. yesterday.

He said that since the notice was not received by anyone, not one of the respondents, should be considered as already serving the preventive suspension imposed on them.

The Ombudsman order stemmed from the complaints of four regular employees who sued the mayor and seven other City Hall officials after they were not paid of their salaries for 10 months.

During the “Ingna’ng Mayor” program yesterday, Rama questioned the decision of the anti-graft office to suspend him and seven other City Hall officials for six months when they were not even given a chance to defend themselves.

Rama said he will question at the Supreme Court the validity of the six-month preventive suspension order imposed on him and seven others by the Office of the Ombudsman last Wednesday.

“Naay requirement una ka ma-dismiss,” he said during his regular online program aired over the City’s RMN Sugboanon Channel yesterday.

Aside from this, he promised to unleash a “fiesta of cases” against his “persecutors”, including the anti-graft office, for besmirching his family name.

“To be honest, file man gani ko’g kaso ni (Cebu Governor) Gwen Garcia nga nanghilabot, kini na hinoon nga makita na ang injustice. It (Ombudsman order)…left an irreparable damage to my person, my supporters, and to the whole Rama family,” Rama said.

He also warned those who have been maligning him and his family on social media that they are not taking the embarrassment sitting down.

“Whatever media or whatnot, we will be keeping abreast in bringing what belongs to us, which is our right and the right of all who were maliciously put into embarrassment,” the mayor said.

He said, though, that the Ombudsman order was just “hiccups”, adding that even complainants were surprised of the Ombudsman order.

“The complainant was even certain and they never thought of even including my name intawon,” Rama said.

This is not the first time that the Mayor is going thru this and is unfazed on its latest challenge especially that aside from being a lawyer himself, he has the full support of his son, lawyer Mikel Rama and the latter’s law firm and even some of his classmates in law school among others.

Aside from eyeing on SC’s intervention, Rama is also planning to go after those behind his suspension and those who had maligned him and his family.

During a press conference last Thursday, the mayor said he did not even receive a copy of the complaint yet he is now being suspended.

Yesterday, he said he was able to go through the facts of the case and has already been apprised on the circumstances of the situation, which he said he did not even know about.

He said that right after learning about what happened to the complainants after they called for a press conference last month, he immediately ordered that they be made of their salary already and have, in fact, started to get the salary already.

When asked if the case against him was “politically motivated”, Rama answered that he would be "naive" to deny it and would be committing mental dishonesty if he would.

“So, I do not wish to highlight that anymore because I have said a long time ago, the issues were there—CPA (Cebu Port Authority), MCWD (Metro Cebu Water District), BRT (Bus Rapid Transit)…. The issue is the governor is intruding, invading that which does not belong to her, and the national government is aware about it," Rama said.

According to Rama, he has been appealing before the national government for an intervention over the said issues, but to no avail. This, he said, is a "real concern".

"Do we have to reach this level?" he wondered.

He said he was told that someone has been "destroying" his name in Malacañang. When asked if he was referring to Governor Garcia, he said, “Asked her”.

He said he would pursue legal remedies because he would like to “correct the wrong”.

“Come on, ako ra diay i-suspend, sila diay di diay na sila makiha? Kay ang Ombudsman di diay na makiha? Ako ra diay ikiha?” the mayor said.

He admitted that he had tried to meet with President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos, III because he wanted to seek his help but was not given a chance.

This made his realized he has been “destroyed terribly”, which was why he went to speak with House of the Representatives Speaker Martin Romualdez in hopes that he can be set up with a meeting with the president.

He assured that he would exhaust all efforts and legal remedies to fight the suspension.

The report on the Ombudsman suspension order hit the news last Wednesday.

In the 10-page resolution, the anti-graft office said found sufficient grounds to put the mayor and the seven other officials under preventive suspension for grave misconduct, conduct unbecoming of public officer, conduct prejudicial to the best interest of the service, grave abuse of authority, and violation of the Code of Conduct and Ethical Standards for public officials and employees.

The case stemmed from a complaint by four regular employees, namely Filomena Atuel, Maria Almicar Diongzon, Sybil Ann Ybanez, and Chito Dela Cerna, who used to be assigned at the City Assessor’s Office but were transferred and ended up not receiving their salary for 10 months.

The Freeman learned that while not the 10 full months yet, the employees have already started receiving their back wages.- (CEBU NEWS0