SAGBAYAN, Bohol Mayor Ricardo Suarez is facing administrative cases before the Office of the Ombudsman-Visayas for allegedly having an illicit affair with a college student.
Suarez’s wife, Meriam, filed a complaint accusing him of disgraceful and immoral conduct and conduct unbecoming of a public officer before the anti-graft office.
“Engaging in illicit relations with a woman other than his wife is not only a violation of the moral standards expected of a public official, but is also a desecration of the sanctity of the institution of marriage, which is abhorred and punishable under our jurisdiction,” reads Meriam’s complaint.
The Suarez couple has four children.
Meriam, in her complaint-affidavit, said that her husband’s affair with a 15-year-old student, who is the daughter of a police official in the municipality, began in December 2010.
In 2011, Meriam said, she confronted the woman, but the latter denied having an affair with the mayor.
The girl insisted that she would never enter into a relationship with someone of such an “advanced age.”
In October 2016, Meriam said that she and the mayor went to the United States to attend their daughter’s wedding.
But Mayor Suarez reportedly returned home after 10 days, while Meriam stayed in the United States to spend more time with her sister.
In February 2017, Mayor Suarez reportedly called Meriam and admitted having an affair and that he no longer loved her.
When Meriam returned to Bohol on May 17, 2017, the mayor never met her as he was allegedly staying in a hotel.
On the evening of July 13, 2017, Meriam said, an unknown caller called her son to inform him that the mayor and a woman were staying in a pension house in Jagna, Bohol.
Meriam and her son sought police assistance and went to the pension house, where they reportedly caught the mayor and a woman.
Mayor Suarez was reportedly shocked when he saw his wife and his son outside of his pension room, along with two policemen. The mayor reportedly tussled with his son and physically attacked his wife.
Mayor Suarez and the woman hurriedly went out of the room, boarded his vehicle and fled, the complaint said.
The mayor’s son, Kirk RJ Suarez, the town’s administrator, and Romeo Canino, a casual employee, executed affidavits corroborating the complaint. (GMD)