Tuesday, October 14, 2008 Suspended fire chief starts serving preventive sanction
POLITICAL intervention has failed to stop the three-month preventive suspension imposed on Cebu City Fire Marshal Esmael Codilla.
He was temporarily relieved from his post starting Sept. 1 despite an earlier warning by Mayor Tomas Osmeña to Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP) officials of dire consequences if they do so.
The suspension stem-med from Codilla's alleged failure to liquidate P433,000 worth of gasoline, drawn on credit, from a gas station since 2005.
In an interview, Codilla said he is just waiting for the court to rule on his petition for an injunction on the order, which he said was unfair and biased against him.
He said he informed Osmeña of the implementation of the suspension before the mayor left for the United States to seek medical attention.
The mayor, he said, advised him to comply with the order while at the same time to work to have the suspension lifted.
Codilla said that he has already served around half of the suspension and he expects to be back to work by November.
"Nagsugod na lang kog enjoy aning akong unwanted vacation," he noted.
He got even with his nemesis, however, after Senior Supt. Eleuterio Itturiaga was also sent packing for Cagayan de Oro City just days after he was suspended.
Itturiaga earlier said he expected to be transferred elsewhere because of a scheduled reshuffling of BFP regional directors.
Protege
Codilla alleged that the chief legal officer or the BFP central office happens to be a protégé of Itturiaga, former BFP 7
regional director.
Itturiaga, he said, sent the man to school and helped him join the BFP until he became a lawyer and become the bureau's attorney.
"Mao diay nga balewala lang tanan nakong arguments. Nahimo-an gyud kog pre-charge investigation ug nalutsan og order
(That's why he did not listen to my arguments. A pre-charge investigation was still conducted and an order issued)," he said.
Codilla had said that of the amount, P163,000 was for the gasoline consumption for January to February in 2007, while the rest were an overdraft since 2005.
In Codilla's absence, Chief Insp. Victor Vibares took over as officer-in-charge, while Senior Supt. Aloveel B. Ferrer is now the BFP 7 director.
Threat
Osmeña had threatened to kick out the BFP 7 from the City-owned building it is occupying along N. Bacalso Ave., Cebu City before eventually changing his mind.
As early as March last year, when the funds issue was first brought up, Osmeña had warned the BFP to beware against trying to remove Codilla, whom he described as doing an outstanding job as fire marshal.
He took offense that time on the BFP's lack of courtesy of informing and consulting the City Government first.
BFP Chief Enrique Linsangan approved the filing of a formal charge for grave misconduct and issued Bureau Order SUS-2008-002, which placed Codilla under preventive suspension.
Codilla said they will ask that the hearing on the administrative case filed against him will not be done in Manila because he allegedly will not get fair treatment there. (RHM)
