Mayor Cortes’s motion for reconsideration in admin case junked

Ombudsman upheld its findings on case involving unlawful appointment in city government

Suspended Mandaue City Mayor Jonas Cortes./ File Photo

MANDAUE CITY, Cebu — The Ombudsman has denied the motion for reconsideration of Mandaue City Mayor Jonas Cortes’s in his administrative case involving an alleged unlawful appointment in the city government.

The anti-graft body upheld its findings dated August 12, stating the appointment was illegal.

The order was penned by Graft Investigation Officer Karen Batu and approved by Ombudsman Samuel Martirez.

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Motion for reconsideration filed

Cortes filed the Motion for Reconsideration seeking to dismiss the administrative case or at least to shorten the penalty.

Cortes in his MR stated that the complainants did not furnish him with a copy of their position paper and only apprise him of its existence during the clarificatory hearing conducted on June 7, 2024. He was only furnished with a copy of the complainants’ position paper on June 24. 

The absence of such service to him or his counsels is fatal and is not entitled to cognizance by the office.

Moreover, Cortes said that original complaint was originally filed before the Office of the Ombudsman in the Visayas. Thus, should have been resolve by the same office.

He further stated that the determination of whether he violated the 2017 Omnibus Rules and Appointment and Other Human Resources Actions and Executive Order No. 292 Administrative Code of 1987 should have been lodged with the Civil Service Commission.

But the Ombudsman dismissed Cortes’s ‘Verified Partial Motion for Reconsideration with Motion for Inhibition and Change of Venue for the Resolution of the Motion for Reconsideration’.

Suspended for one year

The Ombudsman suspended Cortes for one year, without pay, for grave misconduct for appointing Camilo Basaca Jr. as officer-in-charge of the City Social Welfare Services Office (CSWSO) in 2022, which is deemed to be unlawful.

This stemmed from the complaints filed by Sereno Gabayan Monsanto, Rosimay Cali Caling, and Annabel dela Cerna Andebor, who argued that Cortes violated Section 483 of Republic Act 7160 (Local Government Code).

They pointed out that the position had been vacant for almost a year, and instead of appointing a qualified Social Welfare Development Officer (SWDO), Cortes skipped the mandatory requirements and assigned Basaca, who allegedly lacked the necessary qualifications, including being a licensed social worker and having the required five years of experience.

Basaca was designated as the CSWS OIC on July 2022 served for almost two years before he was replaced by Lawyer Mitzi Abadia in July this year. 

The administrative complaint filed against Basaca was dismissed by the Ombudsman for insufficient evidence.

Cortes said that his designation of Basaca was made in good faith, to improve the services at CSWS.