Lawyer Reymelio Delute insists that Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama and Vice Mayor Edgardo Labella be meted with preventive suspension by the Office of the President for using the city’s calamity fund as cash bonus to City Hall employees.
But this time, Delute said the 12 councilors he included in his original complaint for voting in favor of the appropriation and received the P20,000 case doleout should be spared “pending resolution of the main case.”
The bonus for City Hall employees came calamity assistance for supertyphoon Yolanda (Haiyan) and the Oct. 15 earthquake.
“Pending the resolution of the main case, respondent Mayor Micheal Rama, who has direct control and supervision of City Hall Officials and Employees, be preventively suspended to avoid suppression of evidence of evidence considering that practically the vast majority of said City Hall officials and employees are beneficiaries of calamity financial assistance and it is their individual interest to collaborate with the respondents in their defense,” Delute prayed in his four-page comment sent to the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG).
Labella he said should also suffer Rama’s fate for “passionately supported and vigorously defended the granting and disbursement of calamity financial assitance.”
In last week’s hearing, Christopher Tiu of the DILG’s Legal and Legislative Liaison Service gave both camps five days to comment on three issues raised during the hearing.
Delute also wants City Attorney Jerone Castillo relieved as legal counsel of the city officials and to deny the omnibus motion to dismiss which was filed by the city officials.
He said that the officials were sued in their personal capacity for granting and disbursing the financial assistance.
Meanwhile, the Cebu City government is firm on its stand to dismiss the case for lack of jurisdiction and lack of prima facie case and that the City Attorney cannot be disqualified to represent the city officials.
In their 21-page comment, the officials said that in order for the Malacanang and DILG to resolve Delute’s complaint, they need to rule on the legality of City Ordinance No. 2379 which allowed the distribution of the calamity assistance.
“However, to declare Cebu City Ordinance No. 2379 as illegal or null and void is undoubtedly not within the power or jurisdiction of the Honorable Office,” read their reply. They said it is only the ocurt that can rule on it.
They said the complaint is a collateral attack against the ordinance which was already declared operative by the Department of Budget and Management (DBM).
They also argued that the City Attorney can represent the officials.
They also pointed out that in Delute’s complaint for Grave Misconduct and Abuse of Authority, the impleaded public officials were sued for something that they “allegedly committed in their official capacities as mayor and councilors.”
The DILG is expected to come up with a recommendation based on the comments sent by the two parties. It will then be submitted to the Office of the President.
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