Cebu City councilor dismissed for dishonesty

The Office of the Ombudsman (Ombudsman) has dismissed from the service Cebu City Councilor Gerardo Carillo after finding him guilty of serious dishonesty. (PNA Photo)

MANILA, July 27 — The Office of the Ombudsman (Ombudsman) has dismissed from the service Cebu City Councilor Gerardo Carillo after finding him guilty of serious dishonesty.

Carillo was also permanently banned from holding public office and forfeited all his retirement benefits.

The penalty is convertible to a fine equivalent to his salary for one year in the event of his separation from the service.

He was found to have ordered complainant Michael Abellana, an Administrative Aide III at his office, to moonlight as a cook during office hours at his girlfriend’s business, Baryo Grille restaurant.

The complainant divulged that he would just register his attendance in the biometrics at 5 a.m. and then proceed to Baryo Grille to cook.

He would go back to the office at 11 a.m. only to register his time out.

This arrangement lasted from July 2013 until December 2014.

In his counter-affidavit, Carillo argued that Baryo Grille operates from 8 p.m. to 6 a.m., hence, Abellana’s work in the restaurant could not have disrupted his work in the office.

However, the Ombudsman found that seven witnesses, all restaurant employees, testified that the establishment operated 24 hours daily.

The seven witnesses also testified that they saw Abellana work at the Baryo Grille all morning on working days.

In its decision, the Ombudsman said that “the local government of Cebu was deceived into paying complainant his salary for no work done and this defraudation was made possible either because the respondent authorized it or maybe because he was grossly negligent.”

“The testimonies establish the lie committed by the respondent and this lie was further strengthened by his signature in Abellana’s monthly Daily Time Record,” it added.

Dishonesty is defined as the concealment or distortion in a matter of fact relevant to one’s office or connected with the performance of duties.

It entails an absence of integrity, a disposition to betray, cheat, deceive or defraud.