PB affirms suspension order against Mayor Garcia

Dumanjug Mayor Nelson Garcia tried to explain his side during the board session.

The Cebu Provincial Board approved the six-month suspension of Dumanjug Mayor Nelson Garcia on charges of grave abuse of authority in their session yesterday.

PB member Arleigh Jay Sitoy, who chairs the committee on complaints and investigation said the suspension was approved “unanimously and without objection” by the board.

Vice Governor Agnes Magpale, the PB presiding officer, is attending a United Nations disaster risk reduction conference in Japan while PB members Alex Binghay and Celestino Martinez III were absent.

Garcia has 30 days to file a  motion for reconsideration. Sitoy said they will decide when the suspension order will be implemented.

PB member Grecilda Sanchez-Zaballero, vice chair of the Committee on Complaints and Investigation passed a resolution denying the four motions filed by Garcia.

Order
“Obviously, these present motions of the respondent mayor are all intended solely for the purpose of perpetually delaying the approval of the committee report,” a part of her resolution read.

She said under section 68 of the Local Government Code, any appeal made will not prevent the implementation of the order.

READ: Dumanjug mayor faces 60-day suspension after PB passes resolution recommending measure

Garcia, who was present during the discussion, tried to argue with Zaballero’s resolution but was prevented from doing so by PB member Peter John Calderon who presided over the session.

In 2013, Dumanjug Vice Mayor Efren Guntrano Gica filed an administrative case against Garcia after he appointed Emmylou Cabonillas as the municipal council secretary.

Gica contended that it is the vice mayor’s  prerogative to appoint the municipal council secretary.

Criminal charges
In last Monday’s PB session, PB Alex Binghay moved to shorten the  suspension period  of Mayor Garcia, from six months to three months.

But Binghay’s motion was not approved. PB members Ben Joven Mondigo and Sun Shimura, who are aligned with the One Cebu party of the Garcias, abstained from voting on Binghay’s motion.

Garcia told reporters that he will file criminal charges against the PB members who signed the approval of his six-month suspension.

Zaballero said this is  the first time wherein a mayor was meted with  suspension for grave abuse of authority and misconduct and hopes that it will serve as a deterrent against future abuses by mayors.

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