FORMER Cebu City councilor Gerardo Carillo is facing charges before the Sandiganbayan for ordering his utility aide to moonlight as a cook in his girlfriend’s restaurant during office hours in 2013.
The Office of the Ombudsman indicted Carillo for serious dishonesty and dismissed him from service in July 2017.
The case for violation of Republic Act 3019, or the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act, was raffled to the Sandiganbayan’s Second Division last June 1.
Ombudsman Conchita Carpio-Morales also barred Carillo from working again in public office. He forfeited his retirement benefits in favor of the government.
“The local government of Cebu was deceived into paying complainant his salary for no work done and this defraudation was made possible either because the respondent authorized it or maybe because he was grossly negligent,” read the ombudsman’s decision.
Atty. Carillo, who served as councilor for 12 years before he ran and lost in the congressional race in the city’s south district in 2016, said the complaint was “fabricated and politically motivated.”
He was then allied with Bando Osmeña-Pundok Kauswagan before he joined Team Rama.
The case stemmed from the complaint filed by Carillo’s administrative aide, Michael Abellana, who accused him of grave abuse of authority and grave misconduct.
Abellana said that Carillo assigned him as a cook in Baryo Grille Restaurant, which belonged to the lawyer’s girlfriend Ara Flores. Abellana received P10,401 a month from the City Government.
Abellana, who worked with Carillo from July 2013 to December 2014, said he worked in the restaurant from Monday to Friday. Abellana said he would register his attendance in City Hall at 5 a.m. and then proceed to Baryo Grille to cook.
He would go back to the office at 11 a.m. only to register his timeout. This arrangement lasted from July 2013 until December 2014.
He said he was not paid, but he received an allowance of P50 a day, or P250 a week.
Abellana attached to his complaint the affidavit of Rune Maquiling, Carillo’s former secretary.
Maquiling said that Abellana was supposed to support him in the submission of their proposed resolutions, ordinances and committee reports. Maquiling worked with Carillo from August 2013 to March 2014.
Maquiling said he was Carillo’s executive assistant, who drafted, prepared and submitted resolutions. He also served as the councilor’s private driver during weekends.
Carillo had said that Abellana’s work in the restaurant did not disrupt his work in the office since Baryo Grille operated from 8 p.m. to 6 a.m.
The ombudsman, however, pointed out that seven witnesses--who were all restaurant employees--testified that the establishment operated 24 hours daily.
The witnesses also testified that they saw Abellana work in Baryo Grille in the morning on working days.
Dishonesty is defined as the concealment or distortion in a matter of fact relevant to one’s office or connected with the performance of duties. It entails an absence of integrity, a disposition to betray, cheat, deceive or defraud.