Ombud orders suspension of Tudela mayor
THE Ombudsman-Visayas ordered the one-month suspension of Mayor Erwin Yu of Tudela town in Camotes Island for simple misconduct.
Portia Pacquiao-Suson, Graft Investigation and Prosecution Officer II, said Yu defied an order by the Civil Service Commission to reinstate four employees whom former mayor Demetrio Granada terminated from service in 2010 and pay their back wages and other benefits.
A copy of the order also signed by Ombudsman Conchita Carpio Morales was issued on January 14, 2015 but a copy was only received at the Ombudsman-Visayas on June 20, 2016.
Terminated were Angelita B. Roble, municipal treasurer; Liliosa N. Labayan, accounting clerk; Josephine O. Montes, revenue collection clerk; and Brenda E. Calinawan, administrative aide II.
The four municipal employees questioned Granada’s memorandum for their dismissal at the regional Civil Service Commission (CSC7).
In a decision dated June 15, 2011, CSC directed Yu who was then the Tudela mayor to reinstate the four employees and pay their back wages and benefits accumulated for about a year already.
Yu appealed the CSC decision and reasoned that the four dismissed employees were already replaced. But the CSC denied his appeal.
The CSC then referred its earlier decision to the Ombudsman for a criminal and administrative investigation on Yu for his continued refusal to implement the order.
Yu questioned the authenticity of the Ombudsman order. He said he visited the Ombudsman Visayas on Thursday to inquire about Suson’s order but was told by the officer-in-charge of the anti-graft office that there was none.
Metudio “Boboy” Belarmino Jr. , former South Poblacion barangay chairman, furnished copies of the Ombudsman order to reporters on Thursday afternoon.
Yu said Belarmino may wanted to get back at them after he lost to his wife in the 2013 barangay elections. “Daug na man ta. Iya ra siguro tang pakauwanan. (We already won. Maybe he (Belarmino) just wants to put us to shame,” Yu said in a telephone interview with Cebu Daily News.
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