Ombudsman indicts Tanauan, Leyte mayor for graft raps

INQUIRER FILES

TACLOBAN CITY — The Office of the Ombudsman has indicted Mayor Gina Merilo of Tanauan town, Leyte for hiring two losing candidates within the one-year ban.

Merilo would be charged for violating Republic Act 3019 or the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act for hiring Quintin Octa Jr. and Reynalda Almaden on July 1, 2022, about two months after the two lost in the May 2022 elections.

Octa, Merilo’s former running mate, was appointed as a project engineer while Almaden was hired as a mobile nurse for the municipality.

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The nine-page decision, signed by Ombudsman Samuel Martires on Sept. 30, was released on Nov. 4.

The charges stemmed from a complaint filed by Tanauan resident Mildred Lopez, who questioned the appointments that transpired during the one-year ban on hiring losing candidates.

Appointments

Merilo, in her explanation submitted to the anti-graft office, defended her actions, claiming good faith in the appointments.

She explained that, as a first-term mayor, she had consulted the town’s human resource officer, who, in turn, sought the guidance of the regional Civil Service Commission and Department of Interior and Local Government offices, both of which reportedly supported the appointments.

Merilo clarified that both positions were not regular plantilla posts but merely job order assignments.

The Ombudsman, however, ruled that Merilo’s actions showed “manifest partiality” in favoring Octa and Almaden by hiring them on a job order basis to bypass the one-year ban.

“Respondent acted with manifest partiality when she hired Octa and Almaden… [with] the furtive design and intent to circumvent the constitutional and statutory provisions prohibiting the hiring of losing candidates one year after the immediate preceding elections,” the anti-graft court said.

The Ombudsman found sufficient basis to indict Merilo and ordered the filing of a case in court.

Merilo, who spoke through her office staff member on Monday, Nov. 4, said they have yet to receive the Ombudsman’s decision but intends to respond once she does.