Carillo
A former Cebu City councilor has been barred from holding any position in government after being found guilty of serious dishonesty for ordering his administrative aide to moonlight as cook during office hours at his girlfriend’s business restaurant.
The Office of the Ombudsman also forfeited the retirement benefits of former councilor Gerardo Carillo.
For now, Carillo does not hold any position in government thus causing the order for his dismissal from service moot and academic. Instead, the dismissal will be converted to a fine equivalent to one year’s salary.
But the bigger penalty would be the perpetual ban on Carillo from ever holding public office, thus he can no longer run for any public position nor be employed in government in any capacity.
Sought for comment, Carillo said he will file a motion for reconsideration to contest the ruling of the Ombudsman.
“I have heard about this from the media, but I have not received the official copy. Probably, I will move for a motion for reconsideration of that decision and avail of all legal remedies,” he told Cebu Daily News over the phone on Thursday.
Carillo, a lawyer by profession, said the complaint filed against him was fabricated.
“That has something to do with politics,” he said.
Carillo served as councilor of Cebu City for a total of 12 years before he ran and lost in the congressional race in the city’s south district in 2016.
He was a member of the Bando Osmena-Pundok Kauswagan before he transferred to Team Rama.
“You know what politics brings. But anyway, I will just reserve my statement as soon as I receive a copy of the decision and file a motion for reconsideration,” he said.
Carillo’s administrative aide Michael Abellanosa filed a complaint against Carillo at the Office of the Ombudsman for allegedly mandating him to cook at the restaurant owned by the former councilor’s girlfriend.
Abellanosa claimed that he would just register his attendance in the biometrics at 5 a.m., and then proceed to the restaurant to cook. He said he would go back to the office at 11 a.m. only to register his timeout.
The arrangement, he said, lasted from July 2013 to December 2014.
In his counter-affidavit, Carillo claimed that the restaurant operates from 8 p.m. to 6 a.m. hence Abellanosa’s work in the restaurant could not have disrupted his work in the office.
However, the anti-graft office found out from seven employees of the restaurant that the establishment operates 24 hours daily.
Witnesses also testified that they saw Abellana work at the restaurant all morning on working days.
In its ruling, the Ombudsman said Carillo deceived the Cebu City government.
“The local government of Cebu was deceived into paying complainant his salary for no work done and his defraudation was made possible either because the respondent authorized it or maybe because he was grossly negligent,” said the anti-graft ruling approved by Ombudsman Conchita Carpio Morales.
“The testimonies establish the lie committed by the respondent and this lie was further strengthened by his signature in Abellana’s monthly Daily Time Record.”
Dishonesty, the Ombudsman said, is defined as the concealment or distortion in a matter of fact relevant to one’s office or connected with the performance of duties. It entails an absence of integrity, a disposition to betray, cheat, deceive or defraud.