Osmeña formally asks DILG-7 to approve his caretaker choice

SPO1 Adonis Dumpit prepares to board a police mobile vehicle assigned to the Carbon Police Station, which has jurisdiction over Barangay Ermita. (CDN PHOTO/JUNJIE MENDOZA)

Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña has formally asked the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) in Manila, on Wednesday, to approve his choice of caretaker for Barangay Ermita.

In a letter to DILG Secretary Ismael Sueno, the mayor endorsed lawyer Winefredo Orcullo as barangay caretaker to temporarily assume the post of Ermita Barangay Captain Felicisimo “Imok” Rupinta, who was slapped with a six-month preventive suspension by the Office of the Ombudsman – Visayas along with seven village councilors.

The Ermita barangay officials are the subject of an anti-graft complaint for dereliction of duty for allegedly refusing to assist the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) 7 during the service of a search warrant on a “shabu tiangge” located a few meters away from the barangay hall last November.

In a letter to DILG, Osmeña cited Section 389 of the Local Government Code to back his request that Orcullo be allowed to perform the duties of a barangay captain.

The appointment, Osmeña said, should be done immediately pending the official designation of the Office of the President of an officer in charge for Barangay Ermita.

“Hence, pursuant to my general supervisory power conferred upon me under Article 32 of the Local Government Code, I am tasking Atty. Winefredo A. Orcullo as my official representative to oversee the administration of Barangay Ermita,” he said in his letter.

Osmeña also wants the DILG to authorize Orcullo to sign vouchers, payrolls, permits and other necessary documents so as not to hamper the delivery of basic services in the village.

Orcullo is the current Cebu City markets administrator.

At the same time, Osmeña also sent a letter to Police Regional Office (PRO) 7 director Chief Supt. Noli Taliño asking for the assignment of SPO1 Adonis Dumpit to Barangay Ermita.

Osmeña’s letter, coursed through Cebu City Police Office (CCPO) Director Sr. Supt. Joel Doria, said that his recommendation of Dumpit was meant to keep peace and order in the barangay and promote the general welfare.

“The peace and order situation in the said barangay becomes unstable if not volatile,” the letter read.

For his part, Dumpit told reporters yesterday that he would want to remain part of the mobile patrol group of Police Station 5 based in Carbon market.

Dumpit said that while Ermita is part of the Carbon Police Station, he will not visit the barangay unless there is trouble there.

“Dili lang kay makatrigger ’nya ta. Lisud na, (I’d rather not visit the barangay because it might trigger conflict. That would not be good),” he said.

Osmeña is on an official trip to Japan and will be back on Monday.

Acting Cebu City Mayor Edgardo Labella likewise called on DILG to already act on the matter.

“I urge the DILG, if they believe on the one recommended by the mayor as caretaker, if he is qualified under their guidelines, then by all means let him be appointed. For as long as there is a caretaker,” Labella said in a press conference yesterday.

A call echoed by the Association of Barangay Councils (ABC) President Philip Zafra who said that the immediate appointment of a caretaker would prevent a disruption in the delivery of basic services in the barangay.

However, Zafra said that he personally preferred someone from DILG to take over as caretaker of Ermita.

“They (DILG) know the law and facts and we furnish them with all our accomplishment reports. They are also more familiar than anybody else,” Zafra said. /with reports from USJ-R Intern Delyne Marl Saragena