RUPINTA CAN’T ENDORSE REPLACEMENT: TOMAS
Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña said allowing Ermita Barangay Captain Felicisimo Rupinta to endorse people as as acting village chief defeats the purpose of him serving a preventive suspension.
In an interview last Saturday, Rupinta said he sent his recommendation of two persons to the Office of the President after Presidential Assistant for the Visayas Michael Lloyd Dino asked for it.
Osmeña said the suspension is useless if the person suspended is still allowed to recommend a replacement.
“The purpose of a preventive suspension is not punitive, but it’s to stop these people from putting them in a position where they can interfere in their own investigation. Worse, that shows you how stupid Dino is because he asked him (Rupinta) to recommend. Pagka-bogo gyud ni Dino,” he said.
“That shows you what kind of leaders we have,” he said.
Osmeña said that even if he has a Bando Osmeña Pundok Kauswagan leader living in Ermita, he decided to endorse nonresidents of the barangay to sit as village chief to avoid influence.
He recommended to the De- partment of Interior and Local Government (DILG) SPO1 Adonis Dumpit, former councilor Jun Pe and Tejero village chief Jessielou Cadungog.
Dino, in a letter to SunStar Cebu, said the issue should be left to the DILG.
“Barangay affairs is non-partisan and is, therefore, insulated from politics. But if a politician wants to dip his hands into it, it must at least contribute to the development of the barangay and the well-being of the residents,” he said.
He said there are still professionals who can run Ermita in the absence of elected officials.
“But to make the record straight, I do not want to recommend anyone in Ermita. There are other pressing matters that President (Rodrigo) Duterte wants me to address, not only in Cebu but in the entire Visayas,” he said.
The purpose of a preventive suspension is not punitive, but it’s to stop people from putting them in a position where they can interfere in their own investigation. MAYOR TOMAS OSMEñA