DILG: Tumulak is Ermita caretaker

Councilor Dave Tumulak visits the barangay hall of Ermita and meets with the employees, whom he persuaded to remain in service while they waited for President Duterte’s appointees to assume office.

Councilor Dave Tumulak will assume as temporary caretaker of Barangay Ermita until President Rodrigo Duterte confirms eight appointees for the posts that were temporarily vacated there.

Interior Secretary Ismael “Mike” Sueño said the posts of barangay chairman and seven councilmen will have to be filled temporarily for six months until the incumbent officials have served their suspensions.

Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña named Councilor Dave Tumulak as caretaker of Barangay Ermita yesterday.

“This is a very unique case. The first in our history nga wala gyoy nabilin (that there was no one left),” Sueño said in a radio interview yesterday morning.

Sueño said Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea and DILG Usec Ustere Panadero met last week to discuss the suspension of Ermita officials led by Barangay Chairman Felicisimo Rupinta.

But they will have to wait for President Rodrigo Duterte to authorize the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) to appoint the needed replacements.

While they wait word from the President, Sueño said he directed DILG Regional Director Rene Burdeos to validate who among Osmeña’s nominees for barangay caretaker will best serve the barangay.

These are SPO1 Adonis Dumpit, former city councilor Augustus Pe Jr. and Tejero Barangay Chairman Jesselou Cadungog.

Sueño said he will have to review the parameters of Tumulak’s authority to see if he can assume such functions as signing barangay documents.
Asked about the dispute between Mayor Osmeña and Presidential Assistant for the Visayas Michael Dino, Sueño said “I will talk to them.”

In yesterday’s meeting with barangay employees at the sports complex, Tumulak asked them to make sure that delivery of basic services in the barangay is not hampered.

Tumulak said he will make sure that their requests such as fuel allocation are acted on at City Hall. He said he will follow up their requests for fuel allocation and other concerns at City Hall.

He said there is no reason why the barangay cannot issue clearances or certifications to its residents, who need them in applying for work.

But Tumulak admitted that there are some functions such as the signing of vouchers, collection of money and renewal of business permits in the barangay that will be suspended until the appointees take over.