ANOTHER complaint filed before the Office of the Ombudsman questioning the legitimacy of Cebu City Mayor Raymond Alvin Garcia’s accession into office has been dismissed.
This brings to three the number of cases against the sitting mayor dismissed by the anti-graft court.
During a press conference on Monday, March 24, 2025, Garcia presented a copy of the third complaint filed by Vicente Esmeña and Teofilo Rosaroso Jr., dismissed by the anti-graft court due to a “lack of palpable merit.”
“That’s what I told you before. It’s one thing to file and it’s another thing to prove it in court where there is some actual jurisdiction,” said Garcia in a mix of Cebuano and English.
Last week, the Ombudsman dismissed, also for lack of merit, an administrative complaint filed by Homer Cabaral, former head of Cebu City’s Office of Senior Citizens Affairs (Osca). An anonymous complaint filed last year against Garcia and other officials was also earlier dismissed. The complaints contested their removal from office.
Esmeña and Rosaroso, both coterminous employees under dismissed mayor Michael Rama filed the complaint claiming that they were removed illegally and without factual basis after Garcia’s accession.
Aside from Garcia, the complainants also filed complaints against City Administrator Kristine Joyce Batucan, Human Resource Development Office head Henry Tomalabcad, and Department of the Interior and Local Government 7 director Leocadio Trovela.
Before his removal, Esmeña served as the Barangay Affairs Office head under Rama.
Rama
The Ombudsman dismissed Rama from service in October 2024 on the basis of nepotism and grave misconduct charges for allegedly signing the appointment papers of his two brothers-in-law.
Following Rama’s dismissal, Trovela swore in Garcia as full-fledged mayor.
Garcia had been serving as acting mayor since May 2024, when Rama was placed under preventive suspension for a separate complaint.
Esmeña and Rosaroso both argued that the Ombudsman’s dismissal order had not been served to Rama, making it non-executory.
The Ombudsman rejected their argument, saying Rama’s dismissal was immediately executory, citing the Ombudsman’s Rule 3, Section 7 of Administrative Order 7.
The anti-graft office also rejected similar arguments from Cabaral who maintained that the Ombudsman lacked authority to remove mayors of highly urbanized cities and that Rama’s dismissal was invalid because the decision was not properly served.
The anti-graft court maintained that failure or refusal to implement an Ombudsman decision such as the removal, suspension, demotion, or fining of an official can result in disciplinary action against those who do not comply.
It also clarified that appeals do not suspend the enforcement of its decisions. Thus, the ruling against Rama and other officials remains in effect unless overturned by the Court of Appeals.
On March 20, Garcia said the rulings affirmed his authority as mayor and validated the Ombudsman’s dismissal order against Rama.
Rama and Garcia ran under a coalition in the 2022 elections.
For the May 2025 polls, Garcia is seeking the mayoralty post under his party, Kugi Uswag Sugbo, while Rama is running under Barug party. / EHP