The Cebu City Legal Office defended the decision of Mayor Tomas Osmeña to appoint former city councilors as consultants.
This after Councilor Jose Daluz III questioned the appointments of former councilors Nestor Archival Sr. and Nida Cabrera as members of the Cebu City Zoning Board and Women’s Commission respectively.
Both Archival and Cabrera are members of Osmeña’s political party Bando Osmeña-Pundok Kauswagan (BO-PK).
City Legal officer Joseph Bernaldez said the contentions of Daluz on the matter is irrelevant since the latter only cited the general rule of the 1987 Philippine Constitution.
Daluz said that Archival, a running mate of Osmeña but lost to Cebu City Vice Mayor Edgardo Labella, is banned from holding any position in the government for one year.
Bernaldez admitted that hiring defeated candidates is prohibited. He, however, cited an exception, such as the case of former Leyte governor Remedios Petilla.
He said that based on the ruling of Civil Service Commission (CSC) on the case of Petilla, the commission ruled that a consultant is not considered a government employee.
“I quote: ‘the engagement of a consultant is not covered by the constitutional and statutory provisions.’ With all due respect (to Councilor Daluz what he said) is just a general rule. I am speaking now of the exception,” he said.
Bernaldez added that according to the CSC, a consultant is one who provides professional advice on matters within the fields of his special knowledge or trainings.
There is no employer-employee relationship in the engagement of a consultant. But that of client-professional relationship, thus consultancy services are not considered government service and a consultant is not considered as government employee, he added.
Archival was appointed as a member representative of the private sector in the zoning board and former councilor Nida Cabrera as a member of Women’s Commission. They both ran in the last election but lost.
“Well (they) fall under the consultancy. Para nako it’s my opinion or analogous to that. And in fact mas ubos pa gani ilahang position as consultant kon buot kwentahon. Kay murag unsa na ilahang appointment, representative lang sa private sector. Mas taas-taas pa gani ang consultant which is not prohibited,” Bernaldez said.
Asked for his comments, Daluz objected on the contentions of Bernaldez, saying that the appointment is not confined to being an employee in the government.
“Like for example in the case of Engr. Archival, he is appointed as consultant but he is really functioning as a (member), kani man gud Zoning Board is a regulatory body, it’s really an office. It’s a policy-making body, it’s a regulatory body,” Daluz said.
He said Zoning Board adjudicates applicants for developments. He said the board can approve or disapprove since it’s a regulatory board.
He said that the appointments of the former councilors are really indirectly violating the law since these consultants can be representatives of the mayor in any meetings.
“Ang ako lang take diha is that, not necessarily nga employee ka, basta appointed, ang legal disqualification for a one year ban covers all kinds of appointments, all kinds of connections with the government,” he said.
“They influence the body. They preside. They vote in case of tie. I think the law is clear it applies to all kinds of appointments and engagements in the government,” Daluz added.
Daluz said that he will seek an opinion from the Department of Interior and Local Government on this matter.
Bernaldez said the councilor can raise the matter to the CSC.
Meanwhile, Archival and Cabrera said that they have not attended any meeting of Zoning Board and Women’s Commission respectively.
Archival said he declined the appointment of Osmeña. Cabrera, for her part, said that she never received the memo appointing her as a member of the Women’s Commission.