Seares: Mandaue City Mayor Jonas Cortes probably erred in appointing an 'unqualified' department head. But was that grave misconduct? Penalty of one-year suspension would deprive voters a huge third of his term. Penalty-to-offense disproportion is staggering.
[] Connection to House Speaker Martin Romualdez through Jonkie Ouano's sister-in-law Yedda Marie Romualdez fuels suspicion of "conspiracy," along with Jonkie's plan to run for Mandaue City mayor against Jonas Cortes in 2025.
[] Same ties were cited when furor erupted in July over announced plan to transfer Treasurer Regal Oliva, who might run for House seat occupied by Rep. Lolypop Ouano-Dizon.
WHAT MUST SURPRISE in the August 12, 2024 suspension of Mandaue City Mayor Jonas Cortes by Ombudsman is not the fact of suspension but its length: one year. That constitutes one third of the city mayor's three-year term for which he was elected in 2022.
People wonder about the disproportion. If you're from Mandaue City, you may even be alarmed by the loss of service the city's voters would suffer, theoretically at least, from the Ombudsman ruling.
Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama howled over his six-month preventive suspension over the delay in salary payment of four employees' salaries and went to court over its factual basis and the length of the penalty. In contrast, Mandaue City Mayor Cortes coolly reacted to the punitive suspension, as if he welcomed the respite. He said his "transition team" led by Vice Mayor Glenn Bercede was ready. Mayor Jonas said though that he'd "exhaust" all legal remedies, without saying, as Cebu City Mayor Mike did, he might tangle with his vice mayor over changes of policy directions during his absence.
APPOINTING AN UNQUALIFIED PERSON VIOLATES the Local Government Code (Section 483 or Republic Act #7160). The Ombudsman said Mayor Cortes appointed Camilo Basaca Jr. as O.I.C. or officer-in-charge of the city's Social Welfare Service (CSWS) although Basaca didn't have the qualification for the position. That, the Ombudsman ruled, constituted "grave misconduct prejudicial to the best interest of the service." The complainants cited lapses in service to them allegedly because the CSWS chief was unqualified.
Cortes and Basaca disputed the charge, saying in their joint counter-affidavit that Basaca has a degree in office administration and had passed the career service professional examination and did social work with Kaabag Mandaue for seven years.
That point of fact may be resolved in court but what must strike people at once is that it may not be the offense that can be deemed grave or gross. At the clarificatory hearing, it was also shown that Basaca was appointed OIC because "other qualified candidates were handling offices that couldn't be abandoned." The offense was not the kind of willful or reckless violation that qualified as grave or gross, one which would deserve a 12-month suspension.
BUT IS IT SO SERIOUS as to call for that penalty, which would exile Cortes and Basaca for one year from City Hall without pay or, if that cannot be served, require the payment of a fine equivalent to their salary for the period covered? (Vice Mayor Bercede automatically assumed as acting mayor, according to an August 24 memorandum from DILG-7 Director Leocardio Trovela. No mention was made about Basaca who had already been reassigned to another department at City Hall.)
In its decision, the Ombudsman argued that Basaca has earned a four-year-degree program but it's one about office administration ("knowledge and skills in business management and other business processes"), which is not the educational qualification designed for CSWS chief. Yet the law uses the word "preferably," which would make the requirement not mandatory and the violation not grave or gross. Further, the OIC designation must show lack of willful intent to disregard the law.
POLITICS MUST BE BEHIND IT. That cannot be avoided in the Cortes suspension, not after the public fuss over the leaked-but-not-yet-pushed-through suspension of Mandaue City Treasurer Regal M. Oliva.
Announced by Mayor Cortes himself last July 5, Oliva's exit from the City was rumored to be a preemptive strike against her as she was talked about as rival to Rep. Enmarie "Lolypop" Ouano-Dizon for the city's lone House seat in the 2025 elections.
Oliva confirmed to me last July 9 her interest in running for congresswoman, saying it is a position a lawyer would aspire for. She said the "persistent calls" for her removal from Mandaue came from the Ouano-Dizon camp, which, she said, had been spreading news about her "impending transfer" and, Oliva "surmised," was responsible for the suspension moves.
LOLYPOP'S DENIAL. Congresswoman Lolypop told SunStar last July 11 the speculation has no basis: "Is there any endorsement from us? Is there a letter requesting her removal?" Tough to prove or disprove, since that sort of activity is hardly done on record.
Mayor Cortes will seek reelection next year while Lolypop will run to retain her House seat. Her brother, Thadeo Jovito "Jonkie" Ouano, outgoing Provincial Board member, reportedly will challenge Mayor Jonas. The Cortes-Ouano alliance, forged two local elections ago, seemed headed for, if not already smashed on, the rocks.
Broadcaster Jason Monteclar, in a Facebook video commentary Monday, August 26, feared that Mandaue City voters might swing back to the Ouanos, whom they had discarded for the Corteses. Monteclar said, just like the Cebu City voters' change for the same cycle of political leaders: from the Osme as to the Ramas and back and so on, which would make the electors, what, dumb or stupid.
CONNECTION TO SPEAKER ROMUALDEZ. Suspicion about the Ouanos pulling the strings on the would-be suspension of Oliva and, more recently, that of Cortes is plausible only if (1) the Ouanos have access to the power that could make it happen and (2) the public believes, rightly or wrongly, that a decision from the Ombudsman, DILG, and Office of the President can be, and at times, is used as political weapon.
The connection, long known to Cebuanos, is Jonkie Ouano's wife who's the sister of Yedda Marie Romualdez, wife of House Speaker Martin Romualdez.
Absence of specific and solid proof -- that the Ouanos are causing the suspension of Cortes and, still not ruled out, Oliva's too -- has not stopped rumor-spreading and public blaming. The way events are developing tend to tell that the "conspiracy" has been no idle talk or concocted tale.