3 municipal mayors suspended

Interior and Local Government Secretary Ronaldo Puno ordered the suspension of three municipal mayors yesterday for various offenses.

The Office of the Ombudsman had slapped the preventive suspension orders on Mamburao, Occidental Mindoro Mayor Joel Panaligan; Aguilar, Pangasinan Mayor Ricardo Evangelista; and Vallahermoso, Negros Occidental Mayor Joniper Villegas.

Puno tasked the regional directors of the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) and provincial directors to implement the suspension orders.

The Office of the Ombudsman ordered Panaligan suspended for six months without pay after he was found liable for simple misconduct in connection with an administrative complaint accusing him of falsifying the payroll of casual employees of the Sangguniang Bayan.

Evangelista, on the other hand, was placed under preventive suspension by the Ombudsman until his termination is resolved, "but to exceed the total period of four months."

He is under investigation for dishonesty and misconduct in connection with his alleged unauthorized use of the Special Education Fund for his municipality.

Villegas, meanwhile, was found guilty by the Ombudsman of the charges of misconduct for his illegal dismissal of municipal employees, an act that carries a penalty of suspension from office for a period of six months and one day without pay.

Puno said the DILG’s immediate compliance with the directive show that contrary to erroneous claims, the government is not singling out local officials allied with the opposition in carrying out suspension orders.

Puno noted that in the case of Villegas, the mayor is the local party member of the administration’s Lakas-CMD in Negros, while Evangelista is allied with the LDP-KNP while Panaligan is an independent.

Earlier, Cavite Gov. Erineo "Ayong" Maliksi was suspended even though he was widely perceived as an administration ally.

Maliksi is facing an administrative complaint before the Ombudsman in connection with alleged provincial government’s illegal purchase of some P7.5 million worth of sacks of rice two years ago. — Jaime Laude