Wednesday, May 14, 2008 Ombud reprimands ABC chief
THE Office of the Ombudsman-Visayas has reprimanded Cebu City Association of Barangay Councils (ABC) President Eugenio Faelnar Jr. over a traffic incident in 2006.
According to the complainant, the Guadalupe barangay captain hit him with his car and refused to give him assistance.
But based on the anti-graft office’s investigation, there was no evidence to support the allegation of Renante Laurente. The agency could only cite Faelnar for failing to put back in place a traffic sign that he had toppled.
Assistant Ombudsman Virginia Palanca-Santiago, however, said that the penalty is rendered moot by Faelnar’s re-election and the Aguinaldo Doctrine, which effectively absolves a re-elected official of infractions committed during a previous term.
Still, it will be entered in Faelnar’s service record “as a matter of course.”
Although the anti-graft office did not give weight to the charges of gross misconduct and neglect of duty, it held Faelnar guilty conduct unbecoming of an official.
“As barangay captain, he is a role model, most especially to his constituents.
It is not disputed that he hit a traffic signboard. It is further undisputed that he did not stop to put it back in place. His having failed to act with prudence certainly does not project a good example to the people around who saw and knew of the incident,” the ruling read.
“Such is a manifestation of irresponsibility that is undesirable in public officials like Faelnar,” it added.
Based on the records of the case, the Office of the Ombudsman-Visayas resolved the case as early as June last year, months before the election.
However, the ruling had to be sent to Manila for approval in compliance with a December 2005 memorandum of Tanodbayan Merceditas Gutierrez. By the time it was released, it could no longer be implemented.
Laurente filed the complaint against Faelnar in Dec. 22, 2006.
According to Laurente, Faelnar accidentally bumped him with his car in Dec. 17, 2006 while he was crossing the street fronting the Metropolis Hotel in Guadalupe.
Instead of giving him assistance, Faelnar allegedly tried to back the car up and hit him again. Fortunately, he claimed, somebody pulled him towards the sidewalk.
Faelnar allegedly sped towards the barangay hall.
He attached a medical certificate to the complaint, but the doctor’s report only indicated a “confluent abrasion” on his right forearm.
Faelnar, for his part, denied the allegation. If anything, he said, the only thing he hit was a traffic sign.
He said he was on his way home to Buena Hills when he received a call from Barangay Councilor Robert Gabutan, who told him that somebody was waiting for him at the barangay hall.
So as not to keep the visitor waiting, he said that he made a U-turn and accidentally hit a traffic sign.
He said he wasn’t even aware that somebody had been hit until Gabutan told him about it. Concerned about the complainant, he said that he had Gabutan check on Laurente, who was brought to the Cebu City Medical Center.
According to the anti-graft office, the injury Laurente sustained didn’t support his claim of having been forcefully hit by Faelnar’s car.
The anti-graft office dropped the complaint for neglect of duty because the incident was not related to Faelnar’s public office.
And to the charge of gross misconduct, the anti-graft office found insufficient evidence to support it.
It instead held Faelnar guilty for conduct unbecoming, although not because he intended to kill Laurente or that he even knew Laurente had been hit. (KNR)
