Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña has submitted to the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) three names as possible acting barangay captain of Ermita following the decision of the Office of the Ombudsman in the Visayas to suspend of all the officials of the barangays.
The mayor said he recommended SPO1 Adonis Dumpit, Tejero Barangay Captain Jessilou Cadungog and former Cebu City councilor Jun Pe as candidates to replace Ermita Barangay Captain Felicisimo Rupinta.
Rupinta and all the seven members of the barangay council were ordered suspended for six months by the Visayas Ombudsman for their alleged refusal to cooperate in a drug raid conducted in the barangay by the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) in November last year.
However, the order is yet to be implemented by the DILG pending receipt of the official copy of the order. Rupinta has also said that he and his village aldermen planned to contest the ruling in court.
Osmeña said from the three options, his top choice is Dumpit, a trusted security aide of the mayor who used to head the city’s Hunter’s Team, an anti-illegal drugs task force formed in the early 2000s during the previous term of Osmeña.
The team was disbanded when then mayor Michael Rama, Osmeña’s erstwhile ally and vice mayor who became his political rival, became the city’s mayor.
“(Dumpit) is the most feared policeman among drug pushers. I don’t see why not,” he said.
The mayor said this is one opportunity to clean up Ermita from illegal drugs.
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