Taguig mayor charged for padlocking session hall

MANILA, Philippines - The Office of the Ombudsman filed criminal charges before the Sandiganbayan yesterday against Taguig City Mayor Laarni Cayetano for her act of padlocking the session hall and preventing members of the Sangguniang Panglungsod (SP) from holding a legislative session five years ago.

City administrator Jose Montales was also charged for allegedly violating Article 143 of the Revised Penal Code, which penalizes persons who, by force or fraud, prevented or tended to prevent the meetings of local legislative bodies.

The case arose from the eviction of the city council from its traditional venue and its transfer to a small room in the city auditorium in August 2010 without prior consultation or notice. 

The SP was forced to hold its proceedings on the staircase of the city hall for its maiden session and in various venues inside and outside the city hall for the next 14 sessions.

Ombudsman Conchita Carpio-Morales junked the respondents’ explanation that the move was part of the city’s reengineering and reorganizational plan, noting that there was neither a plan nor a project study that would validate the necessity of effecting immediate change in the layout of the city hall offices.

Cayetano said the complaint was merely a revival of a similar complaint before the ombudsman, which was dismissed in 2011.

Montales said there is no basis for the complaint before the ombudsman as the holding of the council sessions was not prevented and that an alternate session hall was even provided.