Faith of Cordillera, Cagayan Valley mayors hang

THE faith of some 16 mayors in the Cordillera and Cagayan Valley who were negligent with their duties particularly during the onslaught of Typhoon Ompong last year will soon be out following final results and decision to be released by the Office of the Ombudsman.

Marlo Iringan, Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) Cordillera director, said they have already submitted to their central office the explanations given by the mayors justifying their absence at the height of Typhoon Ompong in the region.

“Our central office created and formed a team of lawyers to look into the explanations and justifications and we were informed last Friday, January 11 by the Secretary that the assessment and evaluation by the lawyers have been finished. I just don’t know but we have information that there were some which were not accepted by our central office,” Iringan said.

The mayors have earlier received a show cause order signed by DILG Undersecretary for peace and order Bernardo Florece Jr. and they were given five days to explain.

“We were informed that for those information which were not justified and per our assessment, these will be given to the Ombudsman. But as of now, we still do not know who these mayors are but definitely they will be made to answer by the Ombudsman,” the DILG director stated.

The provinces in CAR and Cagayan were among the areas badly hit by the typhoon, with over a million of people evacuated.

On September 14, 2018, a day before Ompong made landfall, the DILG issued an order for all the mayors to be present in their respective areas in order to ensure immediate government response, as they also aim for zero casualties.

Under Republic Act 10121 or the Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Act of 2010, the local chief executive is head of the Local Disaster Risk Reduction and Management (DRRM) Council and directly controls the DRRM Office of their respective LGUs.

Iringan clarified that orders for suspension or dismissal is not within the power of the DILG since it is not the disciplining authority.

“We would like to clarify some misconceptions because what the ordinary people know is that it is the DILG who imposes sanctions like suspension and dismissal of local officials, we are not the disciplining authority.

The disciplining authority in the case of municipalities would be the governor while in the case of the barangays would be the mayors, while orders may also come from the Ombudsman and the Office of the President which we only implement, Iringan pointed out.

Under the Local Government Code, an elective local official may be disciplined, suspended, or removed from office for gross negligence, dereliction of duty, or misconduct in office.

“Decisions of the Ombudsman, Office of the President and in some cases the courts, DILG is only being instructed to enforce and implement such decisions. The Ombudsman’s favourite implementor is the DILG but in the case of the Sandiganbayan, it would not be the DILG because we do not have that such power to suspend and dismiss local officials,” Iringan added.

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