CONTROVERSIAL Cubacub Barangay Captain Almario Bihag of Mandaue City will be served with a two-month suspension order this week after he was found guilty of an administrative charge for misconduct in office.
In a six-page committee report, Mandaue City Council Committee on Good Governance and Public Accountability chairperson, Councilor Nenita Layese, recommended that Bihag should be meted with a penalty of suspension from office for having poked a gun and strangled a woman during the Multi-Sectoral Governance Coalition (MSGC) election.
The recommendation resulted from at least three separate conferences conducted by the committee on an administrative complaint filed against Bihag by two women namely Winnie Sicad of Barangay Cubacub, and Rolita Balane of Barangay Paknaan. Balane is a job-order employee who facilitated the MSGC election last November 26 at the Cubacub gymnasium.
“The Committee found respondent guilty of Administrative Charge for misconduct in office, and he must be meted with a penalty of suspension from office for 30-days for each case,” the committee report read.
In the complaint, Balane said that during the MSGC election, a barangay employee named Lotes Vega, approached her and handed over her mobile phone saying that Bihag wanted to talk to her.
“Kap. Bihag told me not to continue with the election because it was contrary to our agreement. I tried to explain to him that we conducted the election based on our agreement. Not interested to hear my response, Kap. Bihag put down the phone,” said Balane.
Bihag later arrived at the gymnasium and allegedly pointed his .45 caliber pistol at Balane’s face.
The gun-pointing incident was caught on video by Sicad, who also claimed Bihag tried to strangle her after he found out that she was recording the incident.
While Bihag later apologized to the two women, he insisted that he was not armed when he arrived at the area. He maintained his earlier claim that he only brought with him a handheld radio.
“The respondent indeed committed an act that we may consider conduct unbecoming of an official of the barangay, no less than the barangay captain himself, who is the leader, and who should be the role model of his community,” the committee report read.
The report stated that Bihag admitted that he angrily approached Balane with a threatening attitude and approached Sicad with physical harm.
As to the matter of the gun, the committee pointed out that it was beyond their power to determine whether Bihag really held a gun, as alleged by the complainants, or a handheld radio, as alleged by the Mandaue City barangay captain.
Section 61 of the Local Government Code provides the procedure for the filing of an administrative case against an erring elective barangay official before the Sangguniang Panlungsod (city council) or Sangguniang Bayan (town council).
However, the Sangguniang Panlungsod or Sangguniang Bayan cannot order the removal of an erring elective barangay official from office, as the courts are exclusively vested with this power under Section 60 of the Local Government Code.
Bihag’s suspension will take effect 15 days after Mandaue City Mayor Luis Gabriel Quisumbing shall have signed the committee resolution penalizing the Cubacub barangay captain.