MAYOR John Henry “Sonny” Osmeña of Toledo City, Cebu should serve another four months of his one-year preventive suspension, according to the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) 7.
This, despite the decision of the Court of Appeals (CA) to clear Osmeña of allegations that he refused to release a barangay’s tax shares last year.
“Unless the penalty has been fully served, the ombudsman decision remains to be implemented,” said Maria Loisella Lucino, the DILG 7 officer-in-charge, in her order.
Sources privy to the case said the DILG 7 is set to serve the remaining four months of suspension on Osmeña next week reportedly “at the behest” of his political rival, Toledo City Vice Mayor Antonio Yapha.
The Office of the Ombudsman suspended Osmeña for one year without for pay for grave abuse of authority in August 2017.
The case stemmed from Osmena’s “consistent and undue refusal” to release the quarterly real property tax (RPT) shares of Barangay Daanglungsod.
Records from the ombudsman showed the barangay was supposed to receive a total of P17.7 million as part of RPT from the third quarter of 2014.
Replying to the charges, Osmeña said he did not release the RPT because of the ongoing case, Barangay Sangi versus the City of Toledo, in the appellate court.
He said he was merely protecting government funds.
Osmeña said that he thought of protecting the City’s public funds when he was informed about the pending case on the ownership of real properties involved in the boundary dispute between Sangi and Daanglungsod.
“Condonation rule”
In the resolution dated Aug. 9, 2017, former ombudsman Conchita Carpio-Morales rejected Osmeña’s defense, saying the boundary dispute between the two barangays had long been settled.
Morales said the decision was already issued by the Toledo City Council on Aug. 1, 2008, which became final and executory in 2011 after the Regional Trial Court denied the appeal of Barangay Sangi.
Osmeña began serving his one-year suspension on Sept. 14, 2017. He returned to his office in May 2018 after his lawyer, Inocencio dela Cerna, secured a decision from CA’s 19th Division which granted his petition for review.
In a decision dated May 10, 2018, the CA reversed the ombudsman’s decision, which earlier indicted him of six counts of violation of Section 3(e) of Republic Act (RA) 3019, or the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act.
“Therefore, the ombudsman should have considered Osmeña’s reelection as city mayor in the May 2016 elections as rendering the imposition of the administrative sanction of suspension moot and academic on the basis of the ‘condonation rule’,” read the CA decision penned by Associate Justice Louis Acosta.
Yapha, who was then the acting mayor, voluntarily vacated the post when Osmeña returned to his office. But Yapha later wrote a letter to Director Lucino requesting “proper, legal and procedural guidance” in his assumption as the acting mayor.
But since ombudsman filed a motion for reconsideration on the CA’s decision, Lucino pointed out the CA’s ruling is not yet final and executory.
The DILG 7 chief said that Osmeña’s suspension stays, while the CA has yet to resolve the ombudsman’s motion, adding that the appeals court did not issue an injunctive relief.
Osmeña should remain suspended since the appeals court found “no good reason to direct the immediate” implementation of its decision and that the ombudsman’s motion for reconsideration is also pending with the CA, said Lucino.