Mayor suspends barangay chairman

ISABEL, LEYTE , Philippines  – A village chairman in this industrial town was put under a 60-day preventive suspension for an alleged anomalous purchase of an ambulance that was allegedly a conversion from a “surplus” vehicle, which also turned out to be owned by his father.

The Municipal Council recommended the suspension of Brgy. Chairman Paterno Hermoso Jr. of Brgy. Sto. Niño, after he failed to submit his answer to the allegations against him.

The Council said Hermoso earlier asked for an extension of 15 days to file his answer, but still he failed to submit his reply, and instead asked for another 15-day extension, which was no longer granted citing that it was already a waiver of his right to present evidence to refute the charges against him.

Acting on the Council’s recommendation, Mayor Saturnino Medina Jr. issued an implementing order last November 15, “effective immediately upon service” by the local government officer. Hermoso received the order last Nov. 21, and Councilwoman Dolly Valerie Bertulfo was installed as acting brgy. chairperson.

Barangay Councilors Rafael Laurito, Alfonso Egot, Silvana Nagal and Bertulfo herself filed the complaint against Hermoso for “dishonesty, grave misconduct, abuse of authority and conduct prejudicial to the best interest of the service.”

They said that they acknowledged the need of buying an ambulance for their barangay, so they allocated funds for it from the barangay’s 20 percent economic development fund augmented with a portion of calamity funds and a re-aligned road project.

A bidding was held eventually. Three suppliers tendered their bids, and it was the Cebu City-based VMC Auto (Phil) Clinic that was declared “winner,” for its quote of P726,000 price.

To facilitate delivery of the vehicle, a check of P363,000 or one-half of the amount was made and hand-carried by Hermoso to Cebu. That’s when his problems started.

At Cebu, Vicente Colinares Cabilan, proprietor of VMC, reportedly refused to become part of the deal. He issued an affidavit declaring that he never joined in the bidding for the ambulance because he was not a vehicle supplier but only repaired cars.

In his affidavit, he said that the only transaction he had with Hermoso was when he brought a Hyundai Grace with Plate No. HCU-365 to VMC shop to have it converted into an ambulance. Based on VMC records, Cabilan said Hermoso paid him a LandBank check of P116,193. He in turn gave Hermoso a Chinabank check as “change” of the payment.

The beleaguered Hermoso, for his part, has asked the Court this week to issue a temporary restraining order against the implementation of his suspension, claiming he was denied due process. Through his counsel, Edgardo Cordeño, Hermoso insisted that the complaint filed against him was politically motivated because he openly supported the opposition camp against Mayor Medina.  (FREEMAN)