BUENDIA
LABANGON Barangay Chairman Victor Buendia and three barangay officials started serving their suspension last Friday nearly a year after the order was issued against them by Ombudsman-Visayas.
The order took effect after Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña signed the order to suspend the four Labangon barangay officials.
Buendia was suspended for six months for demolishing a vendor’s stall at the Labangon public market in 2014. The Ombudsman issued the order in Feb. 19 last year.
The anti-graft office found Buendia, Barangay Councilman Ronald Dagatan, Barangay Chief Tanod Celerina de Los Reyes and Market Administrator Lolita Lumibaw guilty of oppression for ordering the demolition of the market stall “with force and intimidation.”
Buendia, who is an Osmeña ally, said he would heed the order, but he would contest it and go to the Court of Appeals.
First Labangon Barangay Councilor Zenaida Amores will serve as acting barangay chairperson until the suspension is lifted.