CEBU, Philippines — A barrage of complaints has been filed before the Office of the Ombudsman-Visayas against Cebu City Mayor Raymond Alvin N. Garcia in the first half of November, with the latest filed by three more former Cebu City Hall employees last Friday.
Cebu City mayoralty hopeful Yogi Ruiz started it with a complaint with the anti-graft office last month, allegedly for Garcia’s “continued disregard for the safety of the riding public and the Cebuanos in general in line with the Cebu Bus Rapid Transit (CBRT) project’s link-to-port component”. The project, though, is a national government project and not of the Cebu City Government.
Two anonymous complaints then followed—one for nepotism, for allegedly hiring his wife, and another for alleged “usurpation of authority” along with Department of Interior and Local Government-7 Regional Director Leocadio Trovela, Cebu City Police Office Director Antonietto Can~ete, and Cebu City Legal Officer Santiago Ortiz, Jr.
Garcia, though, maintained that his wife was hired by then mayor Edgardo Labella, not by him, and whose services then mayor Michael Rama also renewed, or that he was not the appointing authority in her employment He likewise said his wife ceased to be an employee when he became acting mayor last May.
Garcia likewise maintained that while the Rama camp questioned his assumption as full-fledged mayor last Oct. 9, he was simply complying with lawful orders when he took his oath of office.
This was after the Office of the Ombudsman dismissed Rama from service and perpetually disqualified him from holding any public office for nepotism over the hiring of his two brothers-in-law last January to December 2022.
That decision came after the Office of the Ombudsman placed Rama, former city administrator Collin Rosell, Rosell’s wife Theresa, and five others under a six-month preventive suspension starting last May over the complaint of four regular employees who were not paid of their salary and other receivables for 10 months.
Rama’s camp, however, questioned the legality of Garcia’s assumption as full-fledged vice mayor and has since filed several complaints following Rosell’s attempt to return as city administrator last Nov. 8, which ended with him being handcuffed and brought to the police station for “usurpation of authority”.
Several Rama appointed already filed separate complaints against Garcia, Trovela, Ortiz, and Cebu City Administrator Kristine Joyce Batucan, and Human Resource Development Office Head Henry Tumalabcad, for alleged usurpation of authority.
The former employees were former Office of the Senior Citizens Affairs head Homer Cabaral; Security Officer III Vicente Esmen~a of the Civil Security Unit; and executive assistant 1 Teofilo Rosaroso Jr., who complained of usurpation of authority and illegal dismissal.
Last Friday, three more Rama appointees—Mark Lester Ceballos, brother-in-law of Atty. Collin Rosell, former city administrator; Glicerio Germudo, Jr.; and Lemuel Felisario—also filed another complaint against Garcia, Trovela, Batucan, Ortiz, and Tomalabcad before the Office of the Ombudsman-Visayas.
Ceballos was appointed in November 2023 as a “computer file librarian” and assigned with the Division for the Welfare of the Urban Poor before being named as its head. Germudo Jr., was first appointed as an “administrative assistant” in 2022 and later became a private secretary in 2023.
Felisario, on the other hand, was appointed as Executive Assistant IV, and deployed as chairman of the River Management Council & Coastal Management Board, executive director of the Cebu City Botanical Garden and Wildlife (CCBGWC) EcoPark, and director of the Local Housing Board (LHB) since Nov. 30, 2021.
The three employees said, it was business as usual at the City Hall amid the preventive suspension of Mayor Rama since May, until Sept. 30 when Ceballos and Germudo Jr. were told of the non-renewal of their contracts.
All contracts of casual and job order employees of City Hall ended that day and the Garcia administration, using its own discretion and evaluation, did not renew several employees, including Ceballos and Germudo.
“On 30 September 2024, and still well within the term of Mayor Rama, Respondents Garcia, Batucan, and Tomalabcad, purportedly acting in their capacities as City Mayor, City Administrator, and Human Resources Development Officer ("HRDO"), respectively, informed us, Affiant Germudo and Affiant Ceballos, that our contracts would no longer be renewed,” read the complaint.
“For Affiant Felisario's part, the status of his employment remained in limbo because, after such date, he was barred from performing his functions in the CCBGWC and LHB without being formally notified of his employment status,” it added/
They claimed they were left confused until Garcia was installed as the new mayor replacing Rama with Trovela officiating the oath-taking on Oct. 9, following the Ombudsman decision dismissing Rama from service due to nepotism.
The three employees alleged that Garcia knew that Trovela is “not authorized at all to implement any decision from the Ombudsman, much more administer his oath, absent any vacancy in the position of City Mayor” and that Garcia “willfully confederated with Respondent Trovela to assume the position”.
“We noticed that, ever since his illegal assumption to the position of City Mayor, Respondent Garcia has made unauthorized personnel changes in the Cebu City Hall, which included giving Respondent Batucan the title of “City Administrator" and Respondent Ortiz the title of "City Legal Officer" even if Mayor Rama's appointees to the position were still occupying the same”.
Tomalabcad was included for “willfully participated in these illegal acts when he issued notices informing various employees that their coterminous appointments were allegedly ‘deemed’ expired and, for our part, not renewing our employment contracts even if Mayor Rama has not ordered that we will not be renewed. “
Just like Esmen~a and Rosaroso, the three felt humiliated over the loss of their employment
After an explanation done by their legal counsel, the three filed a complaint for grave misconduct, dishonestly, gross neglect in the performance of duty, violation of Sec.3( e ) of the anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act, Usurpation of Authority and illegal dismissal.
The three complaints are hoping for preventive suspension on Garcia and the rest “as to prevent the tampering of documents, influencing of potential witnesses, and obstructing this Honorable Office's efforts to come up with an impartial investigation concerning the above-mentioned acts”.
Garcia is yet to respond to The Freeman regarding the cases filed against him and other City Hall officials while Trovela opted not to comment about them.(CEBU NEWS)