ONE year after he was ousted from office by the Ombudsman, did vindication come too late for Cebu City Councilor James Anthony Cuenco?
Early in October last year, then Ombudsman Conchita Carpio-Morales ordered the dismissal of Cuenco for serious dishonesty and grave misconduct in the implementation of the medicine assistance program funded by the Priority Development Assistance Fund of his father, Rep. Antonio V. Cuenco, sometime in the early 2000s. The Commission on Audit claimed that Cuenco and another respondent, Manuel Tipgos, used falsified documents in purchasing medicines from a favored supplier. Both had been cleared in the criminal case for the same alleged offense but that apparently did not count in the Ombudsman’s determination of their administrative liability.
The dismissal order, which also perpetually barred Cuenco from holding public office, was promptly served by the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG). Cuenco bowed out of office even as his new counsel from the law office of Vice Mayor Edgar Labella petitioned the Court of Appeals (CA) to review the decision.
Last week, the CA granted the petition, reversing Carpio-Morales’s decision and absolving Cuenco “from any administrative liability.” The court also wrote finis to the administrative case, dismissing it “for lack of merit.”
The decision, penned by Associate Justice Jhosep Y. Lopez, declared that there was no sufficient basis to hold Cuenco administratively liable. “While the quantum of proof in administrative cases is lower, the same does not dispense with the requirement of proof altogether,” the decision read. There must be “substantial evidence to sustain a finding of administrative culpability,” the Court said and, “absent such evidence, as in this case, the innocence of petitioner must be upheld.”
Now, here’s the tricky part. The CA ordered the DILG to reinstate Cuenco to his position as councilor of Cebu City’s south district. Will the agency act with the same dispatch in enforcing this order or will it choose to wait until the court decision has become final?
Note also that Cuenco’s slot in the City Council has been filled up with the appointment of Erik Espina. For a while, Barug-PDP Laban chose to keep Cuenco’s seat vacant in the hope that he could secure an order staying his dismissal. But after a few months and Barug’s hold of the council majority hanging in the balance, they decided to have Cuenco replaced by Espina.
A source disclosed that before he took over Cuenco’s seat, Espina was made to understand -- and agreed -- that his tenure was dependent on the outcome of Cuenco’s petition for review. He will most likely honor that commitment but how will it impact his bid to win a mandate of his own? Espina is a candidate for councilor in next year’s elections. Cuenco is not.
But his father is. Tony Cuenco has made no attempt to hide his real intention in running: he wants to remain in the public consciousness in preparation for another stab at his old congressional seat in 2023. Is he willing to give up his place in the Barug-PDP Laban ticket in favor of his son?
Not that James is too keen about replacing his father in the coalition ticket, I heard. He’s old and he is bored, James reportedly told a friend about Tony. “Let him keep his slot if he wants to.”
He’s probably too happy that his name has been cleared to worry about his immediate political future.