Imok’s allies ready to quit brgy. posts
“Kuyugan namo sila aning ilang kalisud nga giagian sama sa ilang pagkuyog kanamo nga mulambo among (We will be with them in this difficult time, just as how they were with us for the development of our) barangay.”
Barangay Juvenile Justice Coordinator Marivic Juardo of Ermita, Cebu City said she is ready to draft her resignation letter and stop serving the community to “sympathize with the plight” of eight of their barangay officials.
She has been working in the barangay for almost a decade now and her monthly income of P5,000 has helped her support her family’s needs.
But with their officials placed under preventive suspension for six months by the anti-graft office, Juardo said she and her 184 colleagues would rather be jobless than work with people identified with the Bando Osmeña Pundok Kauswagan.
The suspended officials, which include village chief Felicisimo Rupinta and councilors Marky Rizaldy Miral, Antonieto Flores, Ryan Jay Rosas, Alio Tamundo, Domingo Ando, Maria Bianghug and Wilbert Flores, are all Team Rama allies.
The Office of the Ombudsman ordered their suspension after they allegedly failed to cooperate with the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency 7 during a drug raid last year.
“There was no due process. We refuse to work with people who are working for their personal interest, not the community’s. We’d rather resign,” Juardo told SunStar Cebu.
Gender and development focal officer Cirila Dominguez, shared the sentiment, claiming that Rupinta has been firm in the war against illegal drugs even before President Rodrigo Duterte was elected.
Information officer Victoria Silva asked that the DILG hear them out, saying that the order was “unfair.”
May, a resident who requested anonymity, said Rupinta was among the first village chiefs in the city to implement Oplan Tokhang and the news of their suspension saddened her. /