Tomas, 43 others face Ombuds complaint for ‘demolition’ of Office of the Mayor

The photo on the left was taken on November 2017 while the photo on the right was taken on June 28 to show what’s left of the mayor’s office at the Cebu City Hall.  | CDND File Photo

CEBU CITY, Philippines – The head of the Building Maintenance Section of the Cebu City Hall has asked the Office of the Ombudsman in the Visayas to investigate former Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña for allegedly acting as mastermind in the “destruction” and “demolition” of the Office of the Mayor which he vacated on June 30.

Mejelito Cajes asked the Ombudsman to indict Osmeña for theft and malicious mischief and file an administrative complaint against him for grave misconduct, grave neglect of duty and the conduct unbecoming of a public official.

He said that Osmeña’s public admission that he accepted a P1 million donation from friends which he spent on the renovation of the Office of the Mayor after his election in 2016 was also a violation of the Code of Conduct and Ethical Standards for Public officials.

Cajes also accused Francisco Fernandez, Ronaldo Malacora, Anna Ruby King, Cindy Montermoso, Jimpaul Saavedra, Ventimo Ontong Jr., Lance Samuel Co, Edgardo Ong, Joevert Gio, Benjie Dolino, Pericles Dakay and 32 Dakay Construction and Development Corp. workers of conspiring with Osmeña.

The building maintenance officer asked the Ombudsman to hold Osmeña and the 43 other respondents “accountable for causing injury to the City of Cebu through evident bad faith committed by wanton destruction and theft of government property.”

Director Leocadio Trovela of the Department of Interior and Local Government in Central Visayas (DILG-7) led an inspection of the Office of the Mayor at the Cebu City hall this morning, July 8. He was accompanied by DILG Cebu City Chief Ian Kenneth Lucero, some of their lawyers and Cebu City Mayor Edgardo Labella. /Photo from the Cebu City Public Information Office

Cajes listed the mayor’s office seal as among the items which Osmeña and the other respondents allegedly took from the Office of the Mayor “without prior authority from its owner, with intent to gain, without violence against or intimidation of persons and without use of force, causing damage to the property of the City of Cebu amounting to P857, 713.14.”

CDN Digital tried but failed to get Osmeña’s statement on the Ombudsman case.

In his complaint affidvait, Cajes alleged that 27 Dakay construction personnel accompanied by King arrived at the City Hall executive building at 8:15 p.m. on June 27 to “pull out several items from the Office of the Mayor at the 8th floor of the Executive Building.”

They presented to Gio, the security guard on duty, the pull out slip “purportedly” authorized by Malacora, who was then head of the Government Services Office (GSO).

Cajes alleged that Taboada, King, Montermoso, Saavedra and Ontong supervised the removal of office fixtures.

At around 11:04 p.m., five more men from Dakay Construction arrived at the 8th floor of the City Hall legislative building to help in their pull out operation which commenced at 1:30 a.m.

The “state of disarray” at the Office of the Mayor was discovered the next day after Lawyers Floro Cases and Rey Gealon visited the area to make preparations for the supposed transfer of Mayor Edgar Labella to the Office of the Mayor.

The loss of the office seal was discovered on July 2 after Labella directed an office staff then to located the seal for use when he administers the oath of office of Councilor Jerry Guardo.

In his complaint affidavit, Cajes said that Osmeña and the other respondents lacked the authority to remove government properties that were kept inside the Office of the Mayor.

“Perforce, the properties stored in the Office of the Mayor are presumed to be government properties. Persons claiming otherwise must show well-nigh incontrovertible proof of ownership and not merely a certification  from the Department of General Services which was not even supported by a modicum of proof of private ownership,” Cajes said in his complaint-affidavit.