Admin Raps Vs. Mayor Continues

The hearing of the administrative case filed against Mayor Michael Rama and some other Cebu City officials in relation to the granting of P20,000 calamity financial assistance to each of the City Hall officials and employees in 2013 will continue this month.

This after lawyer Isidro B. Barrios III, summary hearing officer of the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG)-Manila, has denied the motions of the respondents to suspend the proceedings.

Barrios ruled that the preliminary conference of the administrative case will resume on June 8, 9, 10 and 11, all at 2 o’clock in the afternoon at the DILG-7 Regional Office at Sitio Sudlon, Barangay Lahug.

“Failure of either party to appear during the preliminary conference shall be construed as a waiver on the right to participate in the same,” the DILG hearing officer warned both parties.

Complainant Reymelio Delute welcomed the DILG order because he wants that the case would be finally resolved before the May 2016 elections. Delute had asked the Office of the President to place the respondents preventively suspended while the hearing of the case is ongoing.

Rama, together with Vice Mayor Edgardo Labella, City Councilors Dave Tumulak, Gerardo Carillo, Noel Wenceslao and Mary Ann De Los Santos moved for the suspension of the hearing of their case claiming that the DILG has no jurisdiction to hear the case filed by Atty. Reymelio Delute.

Delute originally filed the case before the Office of the President (OP) claiming that Rama, Labella and 11 city councilors violated the law when they granted huge calamity financial assistance to more than 4,200 city officials and employees, including themselves, even if they were not victimized by calamities.

According to Delute the alleged calamity financial assistance were released on the evening of December 23, 2013, two days before Christmas. He said it was really intended as cash bonus, but it was only called calamity assistance so that the expenses for personal services would not go beyond what is allowed by law.

The Commission on Audit (COA), in its Annual Audit Report (AAR) for the year 2013, had issued a legal opinion that the granting of calamity financial assistance to City Hall officials and employees is highly questionable that prompted them to issue Notices of Disallowance demanding for the refund of the P84 million.

The respondents, through the City Legal Office, had questioned the authority of the DILG to handle the investigation of their case claiming that since Delute was questioning the validity of the calamity cash assistance it is considered an attack against the ordinance that authorized the giving of the amount, so it should be resolved before the court and not before the DILG.

Until now the Court of Appeals had not resolve the appeal filed by the respondent city officials.

Rama and other respondents had walked out during the preliminary conference conducted at the DILG-7 regional office two months ago claiming that DILG hearing officer Christopher Tiu was biased against them.

Tiu said the respondents failed to proved their claim, saying “No iota of proof was presented to substantiate the claims of the complainants of the supposed partiality, bias, lack of probity and prejudgment against him.”

However, while there is nothing proffered in the respondents’ motions to inhibit which may warrant the inhibition of Tiu, the latter had decided to voluntarily inhibits himself from the case in order to maintain the fair play and ensure partiality of the proceedings.