DILG resets serving order to suspend Bulacan mayor
SAN ILDEFONSO, Bulacan — The Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) has reset the serving of the suspension order issued by the Office of the Ombudsman (OMB) to this town’s mayor, Paula Carla Galvez, on August 30.
The suspension order that was supposed to be served last Friday was signed by Ombudsman Conchita Carpio Morales way back last April 19 and had directed the DILG to “implement the decision immediately upon receipt thereof pursuant to Section 7, Rule 111 of Administrative Order No. 07, as amended by Administrative Order No. 17 (Ombudsman Rules of Procedure) in relation to Memorandum Circular No. 01, Series of 2006 dated April 11, 2006, and to promptly inform the office of the Ombudsman of the action taken hereon.”
The Office of the Ombudsman found Galvez “administratively liable for conduct Prejudicial to the Best Interest of the Service and Simple Misconduct and is meted the penalty of suspension from office for nine months without pay.”
The suspension order was based on the complaints filed by San Ildefonso Vice Mayor Luis Sarrondo and four of its municipal councilors, Alexander Galvez, Eriberto Magbitang, Roderick Salvador and Edgardo Vergel.
Sarrondo said that they were informed that the suspension order was to be made on Friday (August 17), however, for reasons unclear to them, it was allegedly moved to August 30.
The vice mayor told Bulacan reporters that a hold order was allegedly issued by the DILG central office on Friday afternoon.
However, Sarrondo said that Darwin David, DILG-Bulacan provincial director, was not able to produce to them a copy of the said notice that moved the serving of the suspension order of Galvez.
It was recalled that the complainants alleged that while they was deliberating the proposed budget, Mayor Galvez-Tan together with her bodyguards barged inside the session hall and disrupted the ongoing session and threatened them that they could not go out of the session hall without approving the budget.