Monday, August 11, 2008 ‘Immoral,’Jonas answers Biaño’s complaint
MANDAUE City Mayor Jonas Cortes answered Councilor Victor Biaño’s complaint at the ombudsman’s office with a sharply worded attack, calling the lawyer “immoral” and one who “does not deserve to hold the office of city councilor.”
Cortes also asked the Office of the Ombudsman to preventively suspend Biaño, whom he accused of forum-shopping or filing similar complaints against him in two government agencies.
The ombudsman told Cortes last June 30 to answer Biaño’s complaint, but its order reached the Mandaue City mayor only last July 29.
Child support case
In his counter-affidavit, Cortes attached an affidavit from the midwife who reportedly assisted Biaño’s wife when she gave birth. The midwife alleged that Biaño forged her signature and used a falsified birth certificate to defend himself in a child support case.
Cortes also attached a copy of the complaint that Biaño and five opposition councilors filed against him at the Office of the President. In stating in his complaint to the ombudsman that no similar action was filed, Biaño committed perjury, the mayor said.
Sought for reaction, Biaño said he is not guilty of forum-shopping since he filed an administrative complaint against the mayor in Malacañang, but a criminal complaint before the ombudsman.
As to the alleged immorality, Biaño said that the mayor is only trying to discredit him to avoid the main issue.
While he is the one who complained before the ombudsman, it was a shared decision of the City Council.
Allegations
Biaño, the council’s majority floor leader, believes that Cortes misquoted and misapplied Section 77 of the Local Government Code; ordered department heads to disregard a provision of the council-approved appropriation ordinance; issued a gag order to all city officials; and called the councilors names.
Cortes answered by pointing out that Reynaldo Avalar and Rufus Rodriguez, in their annotated versions of the Local Government Code, point out that the mayor “may employ emergency or casual employees or laborers paid on a daily wage or piecework basis and hired through job orders for local projects authorized by the Civil Service
Commission (CSC).”
The opposition councilors’ view is that the Sangguniang Panlungsod, not the CSC, authorizes the appointment of job-order employees.
Cortes, in his countercharge, also accused Biaño of oppression, abuse of authority and misconduct for his “insistence on withholding the salaries due the job-order employees through the insertion of an inappropriate provision” in the appropriations ordinance.
Answer sought
Last July, Malacañang asked the mayor to answer six opposition councilors’ petition to suspend the mayor for violating the law.
In his answer, the mayor also asked Malacañang to suspend Councilors Biaño, Alfonso Albaño Jr., Noeleen Borbajo, Procopio Villanueva, Editha Cabahug and Emiliano Rosal.
The mayor accused them of harassing him and more than 1,000 job-order employees of the City Government by moving to withhold their salaries. (OCP)
