Gov.Davide orders 60-day preventive suspension of Dumanjug mayor

Suspended Dumanjug Mayor Nelson Garcia (left) will be replaced by Vice Mayor Guntrano Gica, seen here in a February file photo during an encounter at the Capitol.

Told that he was placed on preventive suspension for 60 days, Dumanjug Mayor Nelson Garcia said he would step aside and “take a vacation”.

The suspension order was signed yesterday by Gov. Hilario Davide III, the first time a sitting Cebu governor used the power to freeze a town mayor in a pending case for usurpation of authority.

Davide also said Vice Mayor Guntrano “Gungun” Gica, who filed the complaint against Garcia and is the governor’s ally in the Liberal Party, “shall be the Acting Mayor” of Dumanjug.

The preventive suspension, which is not a penalty, was served by Provincial Legal Officer Orvi Ortega, who went to the Dumanjug municipal hall, 73 kilometers south of Cebu City yesterday afternoon.

The mayor was out attending graduation rites in the barangays. His secretary refused to officially receive the order.

In a phone interview, Garcia, younger brother of former governor Gwendolyn Garcia, said he won’t barricade his office or call in demonstrators to stop the order.

Asked if he would follow Gwen’s example, who holed herself up in the Capitol office for two months in defiance of a 6-month suspension from the Office of the President, Garcia said, “No.”

“No, that won’t happen. It was a different case for Gwen because that was already a penalty. I’ll take a vacation. My position is not worth dying for,” he said.

The suspension order takes effect “upon receipt” and directed Mayor Garcia to cease and desist from performing the duties of his office for 60 days.

Nelson was reelected Dumanjug mayor in 2013. His sister Gwen was elected congresswoman of Cebu’s 3rd district after her last term as governor ended abruptly with a six-month suspension for abuse of power for usurping the powers of her vice governor, the late Gregorio Sanchez Jr., an LP stalwart.

Governor Davide acted on the recommendation of the Provincial Board given three weeks earlier on March 24.

It stemmed from a complaint that Mayor Garcia improperly appointed or designated a municipal council secretary to fill a vacancy in June last year when the power to appoint rests with the vice mayor.

“The governor finds the aforesaid Resolution No. 600-2014 and Resolution No. 697-2014 of the Sangguniang Panlalawigan of Cebu to be in order and to be fully supported by the findings and conclusions of the Committee on Complaints and Investigation,” said the governor’s order dated April 11.

POWER IS WITH ME

“I wrote it myself,” Davide told reporters yesterday. “I didn’t just affix my signature because the power to suspend is with me.”

Davide cited Section 63 of the Local Government Code which states the governor may impose preventive suspension on an elective official of a component city or municipality.

The preventive suspension is issued “once the issues are joined, evidence of guilt is strong, the gravity of the offense has a great possibility that the continuance in office of the respondent could influence or pose a threat to the witnesses.”

The case is still being investigated by the PB committee on complaints headed by PB Member Arleigh Sitoy.

Garcia told Cebu Daily News he would “humble” himself and comply.

“I am a law-abiding citizen so magpa-ubos na lang ko (I will just humble myself). I will honor the suspension,” he told CDN by phone.

“From the start, we already knew this would happen. It was like a well-played zarzuela. Anyway, I still have another recourse – God and the law,” added the mayor.

Garcia said he would pursue the counter charge he filed with the Ombudsman Visayas against members of the PB committee on complaints and investigation.

The mayor filed an administrative and criminal complaint against PB Members Arleigh Sitoy, Grecilda “Gigi” Sanchez, Raul Alcoseba, Peter John Calderon, Christopher Baricuatro, and Miguel Magpale for grave abuse of authority and serious misconduct last March for failing to act on a separate case he filed against Gica.

“We cannot expect justice from the Provincial Board anymore so we will seek help from other ways. I will pray to God as well,” he said.

The administrative case was filed last year after Mayor Garcia appointed Emmylou Cabonilas as municipal secretary, a power which Vice Mayor Gica insists lies with his office.

Garcia had issued a memorandum designating Cabonilas to take over in an acting capacity the post vacated by Victor Tan Jr, who resigned last June 26.

The PB Committee on Complaints and Investigation headed by Sitoy recommended the mayor’s preventive suspension saying there was a risk that he would intimidate or threaten witnesses while he’s in office.

The board voted with 8 LP allies in favor and three abstentions by Garcia’s allies in the One Cebu Party.

For his legal defense, Nelson is relying on his brother Pablo John, former 3rd district congressman and his father Pablo “Pabling” Garcia, a former three-term Cebu governor and congressman.

Pablo John and Pabling lost their election bids in 2013 along with brother Marlon, mayor of Barili.

Governor Davide said the basis of his decision was sound.

“The Sangguniang Panlalawigan painstakingly considered the facts of the case, the relevant issues and the applicable jurisprudence on the matter of the preventive suspension,” stated the order.

Mayor Garcia appealed for the reversal of the suspension last month. He also asked the PB to disqualify Sitoy and members of the complaints committee, who are all LP members, from handling the case to prevent partisan bias.

Last Monday, both motions were denied by the PB.

In his committee report, Sitoy said the facts of the complaint were enough to show that Garcia’s “continuance in office can influence the witnesses and threaten the safety of the records and other evidence.”

However, Garcia continued to contest the ruling yesterday, saying Gica was never eligible to appoint a municipal council secretary in the first place since the mayor did not open a vacancy for the office,

He invoked Sec. 80 of the Local Government Code which provides for the power of the mayor to designate an officer-in-charge to a post while waiting for a vacancy to be filled.

CONSPIRACY

Garcia yesterday said he still remains “mayor” except that he lacks the authority to sign documents.

“The vice mayor cannot fire any employee for 30 days while in office. I am still the mayor. I can still go to my office,” he said.

The mayor said he suspects a “conspiracy” by Governor Davide, Vice Gov. Agnes Magpale and Sitoy.

According to Garcia, Davide’s suspension order could open a case of abuse of authority against the governor.

And if Davide gets suspended because of this, Magpale can assume as acting governor with Sitoy as vice governor.

“In this world of politics, there are no permanent friends or enemies, only permanent interests,” said Garcia.