Sunday, June 29, 2008 City Hall drafts eviction notice for BFP
NOT content with having Supt. Esmael Codilla stay as fire marshal, Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña has ordered the drafting of an eviction order for the Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP) 7.
He will sign the document once he returns from a trip to the United States.
City Councilor Gerardo Carillo said he spoke with the mayor last Friday and was told to prepare the notice.
“He told me to make the order. We can serve it if the vice mayor (Acting Mayor Michael Rama) signs it. Or, when the mayor comes back, he can sign the order for the Bureau of Fire to vacate (the building),” the councilor said.
The mayor, Carillo said, did not give a period within which the BFP regional and provincial offices should leave the building they are occupying at the corner of N. Bacalso Ave. and Panganiban St.
Decision
He said the City owns the building and the lot where it stands, and the mayor wants it emptied of occupants so the Cebu City Disaster Coordinating Council (CDCC) can transfer there.
Asked if the mayor did not consider the possible backlash, Carillo said the mayor was prepared for it. “That’s the decision of the mayor. That’s the way he feels toward the office,” the city action officer said.
The top leadership of the BFP recommended last week the filing of criminal and administrative charges against Codilla for his alleged failure to account for more than P400,000 in debts to a gasoline station.
Overqualified
A fact-finding committee from the BFP central office recommended the filing of a criminal complaint of malversation of public funds and an administrative complaint of grave misconduct against Codilla.
He was also deemed “overqualified” for the position of fire marshal and was supposed to hold another position at the regional office.
But as early as March last year, when the funds issue was hurled against Codilla, Mayor Osmeña had warned the BFP to beware against trying to remove Codilla, whom he described as doing an outstanding job as fire marshal.
The mayor had said that if the BFP will again make moves to remove Codilla, he will strike back.
Now, aside from promising to work for the relief of BFP 7 Director Eleuterio Iturriaga, the mayor also wanted him and his men to look for another office.
Carillo said that the mayor took offense when the BFP tried removing Codilla without the courtesy of informing and consulting the City Government.
“They did not consult the mayor before replacing Codilla, so the mayor thinks they no longer deserve to continue using the building,” he said.
In an interview, Itturiaga said that if they are forced to leave their current office, their administrative, operational and logistical transactions will be affected.
Osmeña is on a 10-day vacation that started last Wednesday in the US and Canada, and has designated Rama as acting mayor.
He will be at ringside when boxing icon Manny Pacquiao slugs it out today with Mexican David Diaz in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Aside from sightseeing, though, he said he will also check some waterfront development projects in Vancouver to get ideas for the baywalk at the South Road Properties and other projects in the city. (RHM)
