Five municipal board officials of Alegria town facing administrative charges asked the Provincial Board’s (PB) Committee on Complaints and Investigation to inhibit from the case to “avoid any suspicion of bias, prejudice or political harrassment.”
In their joint affidavit, the Alegria municipal board officials asked that an independent panel investigate the charges against them since they are affiliated with the opposition One Cebu party of the Garcias.
Most PB members are aligned with the Liberal Party (LP).
The Alegria municipal board members included in the complaint were Emelita Guisadio, Nemia Alocillo, Alejandro Villaneza, Maria Letecia Donayre, and Diosdado Lerio.
Alegria Vice Mayor Marcial Rodriguez Jr. filed a complaint last April 10 against the five officials due to their absences in the municipal board sessions last October, January and March.
Dereliction of duty
“(We want an independent panel) in order to obtain a true and impartial investigation free from any doubts and suspicion of political prejudice,” read a statement from the joint affidavit filed by the municipal board members.
They said mere absence during sessions doesn’t constitute outright dereliction of duty or grave abuse of authority since there is no evidence that the SB members deliberately abandoned their duties without justifiable reason.
“We challenge the complaining Vice Mayor to submit verified and or certified true copies of all the minutes alluded to so that respondents may confront them squarely in due time,” they said in their affidavit.
Rodriguez said the Alegria municipal board members shouldn’t contest what the law provides.
“Erring elected officials must be tried under quasi-judicial bodies,” he said.
PB Member Gigi Sanchez-Zaballero, the vice chairperson of the committee on complaints, said the investigation will go on despite the respondents’ call to ask the committee to inhibit from the case.
“That should not be any bother to either party,” she said.
She said the committee will try their best to make the hearing transparent and accessible to the public.