Cebu City mayor Rama on suspension: ‘I am loving the smell of nature’
Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama
CEBU CITY, Philippines – Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama may be on preventive suspension, but he is making the most of it by spending more time with nature.
Rama said he is currently enjoying beautiful sites, but did not specify his exact location.
“I am not outside Cebu. Basta, I am loving the smell of nature and much the beautiful sites so that it can bring a feeling of light,” he said.
READ: Raymond Garcia is acting Cebu City mayor for 6 months
Rama told CDN Digital in an interview on Monday, May 13, that he will be back in Cebu City next week “to address matters relating to his current situation.”
He also refused to comment on the presence of his allied Councilors during the flag ceremony at Plaza Sugbu on Monday to show their support to Garcia.
Suspension order
Rama’s preventive suspension and that of seven others took effect on Saturday, May 11.
In his absence, Vice Mayor Raymond Alvin Garcia was designated as acting mayor for six months.
Late in the afternoon on May 1o, Garcia received the assumption order from the Department of Interior and Local Government in Central Visayas (DILG-7) designating him as acting mayor.
READ: EXPLAINER: Rama suspension and why the Ombudsman ordered it?
Rama’s suspension order stemmed from a case filed by four City Hall employees who questioned their reassignment and the city government’s failure to pay their wages for 10 months.
Last May 2, the Office of the Ombudsman made its decision on the administrative that the four City Hall employees – Filomena Atuel, Maria Almicar Dionggzon, Sybil Ann Ybañez, and Chito Dela Cerna – filed against Rama and seven others last April.
In an eight-page resolution, Ombudsman Samuel Martires said they found sufficient grounds to put Rama and several City Hall executives under preventive suspension for grave misconduct and conduct unbecoming of a public officer and conduct prejudicial to the best interest among others.
According to Martires, there was ‘strong evidence’ showing the guilt of the respondents.
Reassignment
Here is a chronological account of how Rama’s suspension began.
Last May 2023, Atuel, Diongzon, Ybañez and Dela Cerna, who all worked as tax mappers in the City Assessors Office for decades, were reassigned to other departments in City Hall.
Atuel was reassigned to the Anti-Mendicancy Office while Diongzon made to report to the South Road Properties Management Office. Ybañez, on the other hand, was reassigned to the Operation Second Chance while Dela Cerna was at the City Environment and Natural Resources Office (CENRO).
In their complainant, they said that their reassignment was not feasible since their new tasks were not aligned with their expertise.
Also, they were already performing supervisory roles at their previous assignments at the City Assessors Office.
Discrimination
Atuel, Diongzon, Ybañez and Dela Cerna said they experienced discrimination in their new assignments because of the menial tasks that were assigned to them.
In June 2023, they filed an appeal before the Civil Service Commission on the grounds that they have been “constructively dismissed from the service.”
Pending the resolution of the appeal that they filed, they were sent back to their original posts at the City Assessor’s Office in July.
But this only worsened their working condition as they were no longer paid their salaries and other benefits.
The complainants told the Ombudsman that they suffered “emotional and medical anguish” from the oppressive treatment they received from City Hall officials led by Rama./ with reports from Morexette Marie Erram
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