DILG to start formal inquiry on calamity aid case

AROUND a hundred Cebu City Hall employees are expected to troop to the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) 7 when the formal investigation of the P20,000 calamity aid case starts within the next two months.

During the second day of the marathon hearings for the case yesterday afternoon, the office has already concluded the preliminary conference for the case.

“We are bringing at least 100 employees who received the assistance not only to verify receipt of the calamity aid but also for them to testify whether or not they’re victims of calamities and how the aid was utilized,” explained city legal office lawyer Floro Casas Jr.

Mayor Michael Rama, Vice Mayor Edgardo Labella, councilors Dave Tumulak, Nendell Hanz Abella, Gerardo Carillo and Noel Wenceslao are also expected to be in the formal investigation to present their evidence.

After yesterday’s termination of the preliminary conference, DILG hearing officer Isidro Barrios III said they will be issuing a pre-trial order scheduling the formal investigation within a month or two.

For their part, the camp of Delute and his legal counsel Benjamin Militar is asking CDN day desk editor Doris Bongcac to testify on an article she wrote quoting Mayor Rama saying that he used his P20,000 to pay for his electricity bills.

Last year, Delute filed an administrative complaint against Rama, Labella and 12 city councilors for grave abuse of authority and grave misconduct when the city distributed P20,000 to each City Hall employee after the 7.2 magnitude earthquake and super typhoon Yolanda in 2013.

The DILG was tasked by the Malacanang to investigate the complaint.

But the city legal office has been arguing that Malacanang has no jurisdiction to hear the case since the complaint is a collateral attack on a validly passed supplemental budget ordinance covering the aid. Attacks on an ordinance should only be ruled by the court.