Wednesday, April 04, 2007 Patalinjug takes oath as Lapu head By Karlon N. Rama & Aledel G. Cuizon Sun.Star Staff Reporters With Nancy R. Cudis
THEY failed to get a restraining order to stop their preventive suspension for six months, as the ombudsman investigates their alleged involvement in the P365.8-million Asean summit lamppost deals.
Still, Mayors Thadeo Ouano of Mandaue and Arturo Radaza of Lapu-Lapu aren’t giving up.
The two city mayors yesterday filed separate motions for reconsideration before the special 18th and 19th divisions of the Court of Appeals (CA) Cebu Station.
They are among the 19 officials—including nine from the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH)—preventively suspended for half a year, without pay, as graft investigators attempt to prove “massive overpricing” in the street lamps purchase.
But while Radaza already yielded his position to Vice Mayor Norma Patalinjug, Mayor Ouano held on to his position yesterday afternoon, after regional officials of the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) weren’t able to personally deliver his suspension order.
Ouano offered to pick up his copy at the DILG regional office, but did not show up, contrary to the terms of their “gentleman’s agreement.”
Radaza, by speaker phone, simply ordered City Attorney Vincent Joseph Lim and City Administrator Teodulo Ybañez to receive the suspension order from DILG 7 Regional Director Rene Burdeos, Assistant Regional Director Pete Noval and legal officer Danilo Almendras.
Within minutes, Vice Mayor Patalinjug was sworn in as acting city mayor.
First task
Mandaue City Vice Mayor Amadeo Seno Jr., on the other hand, will have to wait until today for his turn to serve as the local chief executive, in an acting capacity.
The two mayors weren’t in their respective offices late yesterday afternoon.
When Ybañez contacted him, however, Radaza said the suspension order must be received to allow Patalingjug to take over as acting mayor.
“Dawata lang kay maikog ta ni Norma (Receive it, out of courtesy to Norma),” Radaza said. “Kung unsa’y isugo para sa kaayohan sa katawhan, tumana lang ninyo (Whatever is asked for the good of the people, do it).”
Ybañez and Lim formally received the suspension order at 5:05 p.m.
The DILG officials immediately proceeded to Patalinjug’s office to implement the order for her to take over as acting city mayor.
They also instructed Patalinjug to implement the preventive suspension on Julito Cuizon, Fernando Tagaan Jr. and Rogelio Veloso, all of the City Engineer’s Office.
Seno waits
In Mandaue City, Seno waited in his office for a few hours after receiving word that the DILG officials were already in Lapu-Lapu City and would proceed to Mandaue.
But by 7 p.m., nobody from the DILG had arrived.
He later talked over the phone with Almendras, who said that Seno will be sworn into office as acting mayor before noon today. Seno said that the suspension order will be personally received by Ouano between 10 and 11 a.m.
Ouano issued a press statement last night, saying he wanted to get the order himself at the regional office of the DILG but was advised against it by his lawyers.
Ouano said he will be ready to receive the order today, in his office.
His terms
“I am confident that the legal process will give me an opportunity to clear my name. I thank my supporters for standing by my side during these trying times,” Ouano’s press statement said.
While waiting for Ouano, DILG’s Assistant Director Noval disclosed that they were in the airport in Manila around 2 p.m. yesterday when they called Ouano. They informed him that he and Regional Director Burdeos will go straight to his residence or office to serve his suspension order.
Instead, Ouano suggested that he be the one to go to the DILG 7 office to claim his suspension order within 5 p.m. to 6 p.m. yesterday.
“We agreed to the suggestion right away. It shows that he has accepted the fact that there is a suspension order for him. He willingly, voluntarily, and personally wanted to come here to claim it,” said Noval, who described it as a gentleman’s agreement.
Observance of the Holy Week won’t be a hindrance to the DILG’s intention to serve the suspension order in Mandaue.
Noval added that DILG does not want that “what happened in Iloilo to happen in Cebu.”
Members of the Regional Mobile Group had stormed the Capitol in serving the suspension order on Iloilo Gov. Neil Tupas. “We want this suspension order served as peacefully as possible,” said Noval.
Motions
Radaza, through his lawyers, filed his motion for reconsideration early yesterday afternoon.
Ouano filed his hours later. It’s his second. The appellate court denied outright his original petition for certiorari and the pleading that it resolved last Monday was already his motion for reconsideration.
Lawyer Stephen Ygnacio, Assistant CA clerk of court, confirmed the filing of the two mayors’ motions for reconsideration, but did not discuss the contents of both motions, pending deliberation by the justices.
The two mayors, however, didn’t take the same approach against the appellate court’s refusal to give them a temporary restraining order (TRO).
Ouano, represented by lawyer Gloria Lastimosa-Dalawampu, questioned the anti-graft office’s jurisdiction over cases involving the disbursement of public funds and its authority to issue any orders relative to similar cases.
In a 12-page supplemental petition, Ouano argued it is the Commission on Audit (COA) that has “primary and exclusive” jurisdiction over cases involving government funds.
Neutrality
The pleading also questioned the timing of the investigation, adding that even the COA is prohibited from fielding special audit teams during the election period “in observance of the highest norm of neutrality.”
Radaza, through lawyer Richard Sison, argued that there is no reason for their preventive suspension because all the documentary evidence sought to be protected by the order are already in the possession of the anti-graft office.
Since the anti-graft office’s evidence did not include any affidavits, nobody stands in danger of being harassed or intimidated even if Mayor Radaza is allowed to remain in office while the investigation continues, his lawyer added.
Sison reiterated Mayor Radaza’s claim of innocence, saying the project was conceptualized, funded and carried out by the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH). The mayor’s only involvement was to sign a prepared program of works and estimates.
“That document is even immaterial and worthless. In the case of Lapu-Lapu City, the mayor’s signature had no meaning in that document. In Cebu City, Mayor (Tomas) Osmeña and his engineers didn’t sign it but they still got the lampposts. If signatures were material, then Cebu City shouldn’t have gotten any lampposts at all,” Sison argued.
