Cebu City Legislator Returns P20,000 Calamity Assistance

(PNA) — Cebu City Councilor Alvin Dizon has decided to return the P20,000 calamity assistance he received from the city government last December.

The move came almost a week after an administrative complaint was filed before the Office of the President against Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama and 13 other city officials, including Dizon.

Dizon turned over the money to the Cebu City Treasurer’s Office on Thursday.

He said he returned the money because there is a cloud of doubt on the legality of the calamity assistance, even though he received the funds in good faith and used it to repair his family’s ancestral house in Ormoc City.

But lawyer Reymelio Delute, who filed the administrative complaint against the Cebu City officials, said Dizon will remain as one of the respondents even if he returned the money.

Dizon said he knows that he will not be exempted from the case since it has already been filed.

“I am willing to face the consequences, whatever will be the decision of the Office of the President,” he said.

Last July 3, Delute filed a complaint before the Office of the President accusing the city officials of grave misconduct and abuse of authority for distributing last year P20,000 as calamity cash aid to every Cebu City official and employee.

In his complaint, Delute said the mayor “fabricated” calamity victims, including himself.

The financial assistance was distributed in December last year following a magnitude-7.2 earthquake and super typhoon Yolanda.

Cebu City Vice Mayor Edgardo Labella, a lawyer and one of the respondents in the complaint, said the giving of cash aid was legal.

He said the appropriation, included in a supplemental budget ordinance, followed the right process.

The complaint also included Councilors Mary Ann de los Santos, Nestor Archival Sr., Dave Tumulak, Nendell Hans Abella, Sisinio Andales, Alvin Arcilla, Roberto Cabarrubias, Nida Cabrera, Alvin Dizon, Eugenio Gabuya Jr. and Noel Eleuterio Wenceslao.

Councilors Margarita Osmeña, Lea Japson, Richard Osmeña, James Cuenco and Phillip Zafra were not included in the complaint. (PNA) LAP/EB