Tom sues 8 opposition captains, 7 of whom seeking re-election
Less than two weeks before the May 14 elections, Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña has filed complaints against eight barangay captains who allegedly failed to liquidate or return city-given financial aid disallowed by the Commission on Audit.
Seven of these village chiefs are seeking re-election. All are affiliated with the opposition Barug PDP Laban.
Osmeña filed criminal and administrative complaints before the Office of the Ombudsman against the following barangay captains: Phillip Zafra (Tisa), Maria Yvonne Feliciano (Calamba), Yolandito Cagang (Basak-Pardo), Norman Navarro (Basak San Nicolas), Trifonio Lequigan Jr. (Kamputhaw), Julius Guioguio (Pasil), Lemar Alcover (Sambag 1), and Rafael Briones (Tinago).
He filed the complaints on Wednesday afternoon before leaving for South Korea, where he will attend a festival in the city of Yeosu.
In 2015, the city government, under the administration of former mayor Michael Rama, distributed a total of P800 million to the barangays that they could use for their projects.
The following year, however, COA disallowed the disbursement for “lack of required authorization” from the City Council.
For failing to liquidate or return the assistance, Osmeña is now accusing the eight barangay officials of committing grave misconduct; conduct prejudicial to the best interest of the service and conduct unbecoming of a public official; and a violation of the Revised Penal Code.
The mayor, in his complaints, presented the outstanding amount of unliquidated assistance for each of the eight barangays that has accumulated since way back 2008.
Osmeña claimed that Tisa got P25,534,478.68 between 2009 and 2016 but allegedly failed to liquidate P23,600,478.68 while Calamba got P14,763,563.44 from 2008 to 2015 but also allegedly failed to liquidate P14,619,122.99.
He said Tinago got P14,864,500 from 2013 to 2016, the entire amount not having been liquidated or returned to the city until now.
For Basak Pardo, P12,681,957.14 of the P12,761,450 it received from the city between 2008 and 2015 has yet to be accounted for. Basak San Nicolas got P25,649,076.61 from 2010 to 2015 but allegedly failed to liquidate P18,262,016.61.
Barangay Kamputhaw also got but allegedly failed to liquidate P11,185,000; Pasil got P10,261,900 from 2013-15 but failed to liquidate P10,257,830.10; while Sambag 1 got P16,057,057.94 from 201215 but failed to liquidate P13,283,589.26.
Osmeña said that prior to the filing, he sent notices to all 80 barangays to justify their failure to return the unused amounts and to identify the purpose for each activity where the financial assistance was used.
He said the officials’ failure to comply with his orders is enough evidence that they “put such missing funds or property to personal use,” which hints of malversation.
COMMENTS
Zafra, also the president of the Association of Barangay Councils in Cebu City, said he smells “electioneering” from the mayor’s move.
“That’s electioneering against us. Ngano gud tawn wala niya giapil og file sa kaso iyang kaalyado? This is a clear political harassment. It’s a desperate move of the mayor basin og na-threaten siya kay dili lig-on iyang mga kandidato,” he told The FREEMAN over the phone.
Zafra said barangay officials have been liquidating the financial assistance but certain documents have yet to be recovered.
He added that he will just answer the complaint once he receives a copy of it.
“Wala gyod na gisulod namo sa bulsa. Kuwang ra pod ang five days sa paganswer sa demand letter sa mayor kay mag-retrieve mi sa among mga documents kay the cash assistance was given three years ago,” he said.
As for Briones, who is not running for this year’s elections, he will talk to the previous barangay captain about the matter since he was not the sitting official at the time the assistance was given.
Guioguio, for his part, admitted that the barangay has yet to submit all documents relating to the financial assistance.
Pasil’s barangay record keeper Manolo Catingog said an unspent fund of P1.5 million will be returned to the city once the barangay hires a treasurer this month.
Lawyer Daisy Mae Garong of the City Legal Office said similar cases will be filed against other barangay captains who may have not liquidated and returned the financial aid.