Jurisdiction, appearance of City Hall lawyers raised in DILG hearing

Cebu City mayor Michael Rama (seated right) with vice mayor Edgardo Labella (left) councilors (L-R back row) Alvin Dizon, Sesinio Andales, Eugenio Gabuya,Hans Avila, Mary Ann Delos Santos and Dave Tumulac share light moments during their arrival in the DILG regional office at Sudlon barangay Lahug. (CDN PHOTO/JUNJIE MENDOZA)

ISSUES on jurisdiction, evidence and use of Cebu City Hall lawyers were raised at yesterday’s start of the three-day hearing on the complaint of misconduct filed against Cebu City officials led by Mayor Michael Rama.

Rama stayed for only 10 minutes and left for Hong Kong while City Councilors Alvin Dizon and Eugenio Gabuya sought to be excluded from the complaint during yesterday’s hearing which lasted by about an hour and half.

Christopher Tiu, hearing officer of the Department of Interior and Local Government’s (DILG) Legal and Legislative Liaison Service, was in Cebu yesterday to preside over the hearing on the complaint filed by Cebu-based lawyer Reymelio Delute.

Delute questioned the officials’ acceptance of the P20,000 calamity assistance, saying that they weren’t victims of supertyphoon Yolanda last November.

Impleaded in the case were: Rama, Vice Mayor Edgar Labella and 12 members of the Cebu City Council.
Delute was a Bando Osmeña-Pundok Kauswagan (BO-PK) candidate for barangay chairman in the 2010 elections.

Due course

Yesterday’s hearing at the DILG office in barangay Lahug, Cebu City was cut short after both parties agreed to have the case decided based on the manifestations and documentary evidence they submitted to the Office of the President.

Tiu also gave both camps five days to comment on at least three major questions — jurisdiction, lack of prima facie evidence, and use of City Hall lawyers to defend city officials – raised during the hearing.
As a procedure, the DILG will hear the complaint and submit their recommendations to the Office of the President.

Delute was thankful to the DILG for giving “due course” to his complaint.

“They did not dismiss it outright. Instead, they gave it weight and went on with the investigation,” Delute said.

Rama headed to Hong Kong where he was invited as a speaker in a good governance forum.
Jurisdiction

City Legal Officer Jerone Castillo questioned the lack of jurisdiction of the Office of the President and DILG in hearing the misconduct case.

He sought the immediate dismissal of the complaint against them.

In the absence of prima facie evidence, Castillo said there’s no basis for the case against his clients.
Castillo was lead counsel for Rama and some of the councilors and was with 10 other government and private lawyers.

Delute was accompanied by his co-counsels Benjamin Militar and Rogelio Evasco.

Militar said the respondents never raised a question on jurisdiction in the counter-affidavit and the motions for dismiss and special affirmative defenses which they filed last week.

He questioned Rama’s use of city lawyers since Delute filed the complaint against him, Labella and 12 councilors in his personal capacity.

Autonomy

Militar also explained that their complaint against the Cebu City officials is within the jurisdiction of the Office of the President and DILG because it concerned misconduct.

He said contrary to Labella’s argument, their complaint doesn’t dwell on the validity of city ordinance 2379.

The ordinance authorized the disbursement of the P84.5 million calamity assistance released to 4,200 City Hall officials and employees at P20,000 each last December.

“Fiscal autonomy doesn’t prevent the Office of the President from investigating how funds were being appropriated or misappropriated,” Militar said.

The Commission on Audit (COA) said in its 2013 audit report that the release of the calamity assistance was “highly questionable.”

Own volition

Auditors said the release of the P84.5 million calamity assistance also violated the Salary Standardization Law covering benefits due to government personnel.

During the hearing Perla Centeno, counsel for Councilors Dizon and Gabuya, motioned for their exclusion from the complaint.

She said the two councilors refunded their share of calamity assistance despite sustaining damages to their homes.

Centeno said supertyphoon Yolanda damaged Dizon’s ancestral home in Ormoc and the terrace of Gabuya’s house in barangay Cogon Pardo.

“Are your clients acknowledging receipt of the assistance?” Tiu asked.

“Yes. But on their own volition they already had it returned,” Centeno said.

Implied admission

Lawyer Noel Adlawan, counsel for City Councilor Mary Ann delos Santos, also sought her exclusion from the case.

Adlawan said delos Santos wasn’t around when the City Council passed the resolution authorizing the release of the calamity assistance.

The resolution was passed on Dec. 13, 2013 ahead of Budget Ordinance 2379.

Before he adjourned the hearing at 10:30 a.m. Tiu directed both parties to put all their arguments in writing and submit these to the DILG office for consideration.

Delute said Dizon and Gabuya’s decision to refund their share of calamity assistance is an “implied admission of guilt.”

“The act does not erase the crime. Instead, it will only support my complaint against them,” he told Cebu Daily News.