Barangay Ermita residents still await the appointment of a caretaker following the 6-month suspension of barangay captain Felicisimo Rupinta and seven councilors for alleged dereliction of duty for failing to help PDEA-7 in an anti-illegal drug operation. (CDN PHOTO/JUNJIE MENDOZA)
CEBU City Mayor Tomas Osmeña has threatened to file a case against Presidential Assistant for the Visayas Michael Dino for alleged obstruction of justice.
In a press conference on Wednesday, Osmeña told reporters that Dino’s reported act of seeking recommendations from Ermita barangay captain Felicisimo “Imok” Rupinta on who should act as village chief in his absence defeats the purpose of a six-month preventive suspension ordered by the Office of the Ombudsman on Rupinta and all seven barangay councilors.
“Rupinta was given a preventive suspension, and the purpose of the preventive suspension is to prevent you from interfering in your investigation. But by having Mike Dino tell Rupinta, ‘Who do you want as your replacement?’ is counterproductive and paves the way for obstructing your own investigation because you are now allowed to find your own replacement,” Osmeña explained.
Rupinta was reported to have endorsed two names to Dino as his possible replacement in Ermita, but this was later denied by Rupinta.
Despite Rupinta’s denial, Osmeña is not taking the matter lightly, saying that he will send out a request to the Office of the Ombudsman calling on Dino’s preventive suspension for the same duration as Rupinta’s suspension.
“To see that the investigation will not be hampered, Dino should also have a preventive suspension. So (that) he cannot interfere,” he said.
Aside from Rupinta, suspended were Barangay Councilors Marky Rizaldy Miral, Antonieto Flores, Ryan Jay Rosas, Alio Tamundo, Domingo Ando, Maria Buanghug and Wilbert Flores.
The Ermita officials were suspended pending an investigation into a complaint for dereliction of duty filed by the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency in the region (PDEA-7) against the village officials for allegedly failing to assist them in an anti-drug operation last Nov. 6.
The PDEA raid yielded P800,000 worth of suspected shabu as well as the arrest of Richard Cañete, who was suspected to be the one maintaining the alleged “shabu tiangge.”
Osmeña said that the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) had asked him to send his recommendations for the vacated post of village chief.
Rupinta’s suspension was served by DILG-7 last Tuesday.
Osmeña recommended SPO2 Adonis Dumpit, former Cebu City councilor Jun Pe and Tejero Barangay Captain Jessilou Cadungog.
Meanwhile, Dino said that if Osmeña made good his threat to file a case against him before the Ombudsman, he too will sue Osmeña for “defaming (his) name.”
“How many times do I need to say that I do not want to recommend. I repeat, I do not want to recommend. Allow DILG to do its job,” Dino said in a press release yesterday.
DINO
Earlier, Dino in another statement said that as much as possible, the integrity of Rupinta’s replacement must be beyond “reproach” and should be free from suspicion of any links involving illegal drugs.
Dino said he was only monitoring the situation in Barangay Ermita to ensure that the delivery of basic services will not be hampered.
Osmeña said that if by Monday next week, no officer in charge of Ermita is yet appointed by the DILG, he will assign lawyer Winifredo A. Orcullo Jr. to assume the position as an extension of the mayor in the barangay.
“If nothing happens by then, I have to do something already. I have to assume the responsibility . . . We will do it already for the good of the city and for the good of the residents,” Osmeña said.
Orcullo is currently the administrator of the Carbon Public Market in Barangay Ermita.
Should Orcullo assume the post, the mayor said he will deploy policemen headed by SPO2 Dumpit to protect him.
Asked if he will personally visit Ermita, Osmeña said that he had no plans as of yet.
“Well, I don’t know what to resolve there. But if trouble starts, I will be there, guaranteed,” Osmeña said.