ILIGAN CITY—A one-month suspension order against 14 members of the City Council here, including Vice Mayor Monsignor Jemar Vera Cruz, has taken effect starting January 4.
Foster Anayron, local officer of the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) in this city, said the suspension order was issued by the Ombudsman as early as September 4 last year.
The simple misconduct case stemmed from the administrative case filed by former Iligan Rep. Vicente Belmonte, who accused the respondents of authorizing Mayor Celso Regencia to transact business and appoint officials while the latter was in prison.
Regencia was briefly detained for his alleged involvement in the December 2014 ambush of Belmonte, who narrowly escaped the attempt on his life. Regencia denied the allegation, and has since been cleared from the charges by the Department of Justice.
Suspended without pay for a month are Vice Mayor Vera Cruz and City Councilors Samuel Huertas, Eric Capitan, Jesse Ray Balanay, Demosthenes Plando, Belinda Lim, Sorilie Bacsarpa, Ian Uy, Randy Ryan Ong, Bernard Pacaña, Petronilo PArdillo, Renato Ancis and Datu Diamla and Rolando Soong.
For his part, Regencia said the suspension of the councilors threatens to delay the repair of the damaged water lines in the aftermath of a recent typhoon.
However, DILG’s Anayron said the suspended officials may still appeal their case before a competent court through a Temporary Restraining Order (TRO). (Irma Boza/PNA)
