Wednesday, September 19, 2007 Suspensions v. officials valid
THE Court of Appeals (CA) has validated the preventive suspension earlier imposed against the regional engineering department and Mandaue and Lapu-Lapu City officials for their alleged involvement in the Asean summit decorative lamppost controversy.
Lawyer Stephen Yg-nacio, the CA’s acting assistant clerk of court, said the appellate court found no basis in the petition lodged by then Mandaue City mayor Thadeo Ouano, City Engineer Hidelisa Latonio and Assistant Engineers Gregorio Omo, Alfredo Sanchez Sr., Mario Gerolaga and Rosalina Denque over the March 29, 2007 suspension order that Tanodbayan Merceditas Gutierrez slapped on them.
Ygnacio said the ruling is “based upon our Associate Justices’ judicious application of the law and jurisprudence.”
In answering one of the points raised—that since no hearing was held prior to the issuance of the suspension order, the suspension was therefore illegal—the CA cited a Supreme Court (SC) jurisprudence that stemmed from a 1995 case involving one of the petitioners’ own lawyers, Gloria Lastimosa-Dalawampu.
Without merit
In Lastimosa vs. Vasquez et al., petitioner Lastimosa contended (that) her suspension was invalid because the order was issued without giving her and provincial prosecutor Kintanar the opportunity to refute the charges against them.
The SC held that such contention is without merit.
Dalawampu is counsel for Ouano, who, together with Lapu-Lapu City Mayor Arturo Radaza, was impleaded in the case and preventively suspended.
Ouano’s suspension, as well as any administrative liability he may have had in the transaction, was automatically lifted on his last day of office. As a result, the CA no longer considered Ouano’s points in the decision, saying these are already moot.
“In Cabrera et. al. vs. Marcelo et. al., the SC agreed with the ombudsman when it ordered the dismissal of the administrative complaints against one of the petitioners therein, Fe Cabrera, not because the charges against the later had no merit but because she was no longer the mayor of Taal,” the CA said in the decision.
‘Padded’ costs
The controversy stem-med from the National Government’s purchase of hundreds of decorative lampposts found in certain thoroughfares in Mandaue, Lapu-Lapu and Cebu City for use during the Association of Southeast Asian Nations summit last January.
According to a fact-finding report, the purchase was highly anomalous and overpriced.
A lamppost model worth P7,536.96 was listed as costing P72,500. Another model worth only P9,523.37 was listed as costing P95,000.
The anti-graft office said that this came as a result of the collusion between officials of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH), who carried out the bidding, and local officials, whose cities were recipients of the lampposts.
Included in Gutierrez’s preventive suspension order were DWPH director Roberto Lala and assistant directors Marlina Alvizo and Gloria Dindin, as well as DPWH chief legal officer Agustinito Hermoso, some department heads and staff members.
Also included were Lapu-Lapu City Engineer Julito Cuizon, Assistant Engineers Fernando Tagaan Jr. and Rogelio Veloso.
Ouano, Latonio, Omo, Sanchez, Gerolaga and Denque comprised the Mandaue contingent.
Empowered
In their petition, Ouano, Latonio, Omo, Sanchez, Gerolaga and Denque questioned the need for the suspension and whether the evidence against them was sufficient to warrant their suspension.
They also questioned the anti-graft office’s jurisdiction of the case, saying the Commission on Audit (COA) hasn’t even come up with an audit report yet.
They said they were denied due process since they were not given the chance to refute the allegations prior to the suspension.
According to the CA, the anti-graft office is empowered by law to preventively suspend a public official without prior notice, hearing or investigation.
A COA report is not even necessary, it said. (KNR)
