Tuesday, October 21, 2008 (Philippines)

Suspended barangay captain Rustica Asid with Cebu City Mayor-on-Leave Tomas Osmeña. The Buhisan barangay chief and the mayor are in the news for different reasons: Asid for her suspension because of a missing truck and Osmeña for his surgery in the U.S. (Sun.star file photo) The Office of the Ombudsman-Visayas has suspended a Cebu City barangay captain for three months without pay for failing to account for a missing dump truck. But while the anti-graft office found Buhisan Barangay Captain Rustica Asid guilty of simple neglect of duty, it also dropped the criminal complaint filed against her. She was warned, however, that a similar offense committed in the future will warrant a more severe sanction. The case stemmed from a letter-complaint of Buhisan Barangay Councilor Eutiquio Tabar, who alleged that Asid sold the barangay’s dump truck and pocketed the proceeds of the sale. [full story]