Aloguinsan Mayor Cynthia Moreno has to serve a suspension of six months for selling two government-owned dump trucks without a public bidding in 2008.
The Court of Appeals Cebu Station recently denied her plea and that of her husband, Vice Mayor Augustus Caesar Moreno, to restrain the Office of the Ombudsman from enforcing the suspension.
Sought for comment yesterday, Cynthia said she and her husband will no longer contest the denial.
“It’s all right to serve the suspension. Anyway, it’s just good for six months. I respect the opinion of the court. We’re just waiting for the implementation of that order,” she told CDN in a phone interview from Aloguinsan.
Moreno is still contesting before the Supreme Court (SC) an earlier conviction for graft and a sentence of six to 10 years in prison for a separate purchase of P1.1 million worth of aluminum panels for the new town hall in 2007 which the Sandiganbayan said was done “without valid public bidding.”
In a ruling on Nov. 24, 2013, Associate Justice Pamela Ann Maxino of the appellate court’s 18th division, said the decision of the Ombudsman cannot be stopped by the mere filing of an appeal based on rules of procedure of the Office of the Ombudsman.
Executive Justice Gabriel Ingles and Associate Justice Renato Francisco agreed.
The Moreno couple had earlier sought a temporary restraining order.
The Ombudsman earlier found the Moreno couple guilty of conduct prejudicial to the best interest of the service and meted six months suspension without pay and benefits.
The case stemmed from the complaint filed by former councilor Danilo Margallo on the sale of two unserviceable dump trucks to Rufino Alpas Junk Shop for P150,000 without public bidding.
The dump trucks were placed in the garage owned by the Morenos in violation of the Government Accounting and Auditing Manual.
The anti-graft office said that Cynthia “allowed herself to be persuaded and influenced by Caesar, thereby depriving the municipality the opportunity to obtain a proper valuation of the vehicles and dispose of through competitive public bidding.”
The offense was committed in 2008 when Cynthia was mayor and Caesar was vice mayor.
Cynthia, in an interview, said their legal counsel invoked in their petition the Aguinaldo Doctrine which cancels the liability of a public official in administrative cases filed l during his previous term once the official is reelected.
But the Ombudsman said the Aguinaldo doctrine is not applicable in the case because the respondents were not elected to the same position.
“The alleged offense was committed in 2008. I was the mayor then. In 2010, I was elected vice mayor and then mayor in 2013. Are these instances not proof that my constituents have condoned whatever allegations were levelled against me in my previous term?” Cynthia said.
The criminal case involving the same issue was already dismissed by the court in 2012, she added.
Cynthia and seven officials were found guilty of purchasing P1.1 million worth of aluminum panels for the new town hall in 2007 without a “valid public bidding”.