WITH barely a weekly before the releasing of payrolls, Acting Cebu City Mayor Edgardo Labella is asking the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) 7 to fast-track the appointment of an acting chief of Barangay Ermita.
Labella said that the DILG, being the “alter ego” of the Office of the President, should by now appoint an acting village chief so as not to hamper basic services.
Before leaving for Japan on official business, Mayor Tomas Osmeña asked the DILG 7 to grant City Market Administrator Atty. Winifredo Orcullo Jr. the authority to perform executive functions in Ermita.
He appointed Orcullo to sit as acting village chief after residents of Ermita protested on the supposed assumption of SPO1 Adonis Dumpit as caretaker last Monday.
Dumpit is currently assigned in the Carbon Police Station by Cebu City Police Office Director Joel Doria to assist in the maintenance of peace and order in Ermita.
Suspended earlier by the Office of the Ombudsman-Visayas are barangay captain Felicisimo Rupinta and his seven councilors—Marky Rizaldy Miral, Antonieto Flores, Ryan Jay Rosas, Alio Tamundo, Domingo Ando, Maria Bianghug and Wilbert Flores—after they allegedly failed to cooperate with the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) 7 during a drug raid in 2016.
Dumpit, in a separate interview, assured he will help maintain order in Ermita.
“Dili man sila angay mahadlok kay di man ta kriminal. Igo ra man ta magmintinar sa kahapsay ug kalinaw (They should not be afraid because I am not a criminal. I will only help maintain peace and order),” he said, adding he is non-partisan.