Public school teachers withdraw case vs Taguig mayor

Six public high school teachers withdrew a case filed against Taguig Mayor Sigfrido Tiñga before the Office of the Ombudsman, saying that their signatures in the complaint sheet were falsified.

In their affidavits submitted to the Ombudsman last week, Rosemarie Romero and Lorina Doong, of Taguig National High School; and Dolorita dela Corte, Nestor Ramos, Yolanda Iglesias and Joseph Soguilon, of Upper Bicutan National High School sought the withdrawal of their complaint-affidavits against Tiñga for abuse of authority, oppression, unfair practice and discrimination.

The teachers claimed that "by some technical maneuver" their signatures appeared in the complaint-affidavit, making it appear that they filed the case against the mayor together with Maria Cherry Fernandez and Constancio Quisquino of C.P. Tiñga Elementary School.

They stressed that their signatures in the complaint-affidavits "were merely photocopied from another document." While the complaint-affidavits were notarized, the teachers clarified that they did not appear before any Notary Public for that purpose.

The case, which was filed before the Ombudsman on March 8, 2006, stemmed from the cutting off of their allowance from the Local School Board.

Last month, the six teachers were surprised to receive an order from the Ombudsman for the administrative investigation of the case they allegedly filed against Tiñga.

The teachers said that a former official of the Bagumbayan National High School made them sign a document reportedly to facilitate the release of their allowances. They claimed that this official has an axe to grind against the Tiñga administration.