Ombudsman suspends Agusan Sur mayor, 3 others for 1 month

FILE: The Office of the Ombudsman (Photo: Office of the Ombudsman Philippines/Facebook)

MANILA — The Office of the Ombudsman has found Buenavista, Agusan del Sur Mayor Norberto Pagaspas and three others guilty of simple neglect of duty.

The Ombudsman ordered Pagaspas, license inspector Isaias Oraiz Jr., market supervisor Jairus Arapan, and security guard Armando Malaki suspended for one month.

Probers found that on July 31, 2016, the respondents ordered the demolition of a market stall owned by complainant Mildred Estelliori.

The complainant said her store “stocks were dumped and littered inside the municipality’s market office. Worse, the refrigerator, flat screen television, water machine, coffee machine, stand trays, and grocery goods, with an estimated total value of PHP25,000, were lost.”

In his counter-affidavit, Pagaspas argued that “the market stall was ordered closed after Estelliori defaulted on her payments.”

In its decision, the Ombudsman said the respondents had failed to comply with the requirements of a municipal ordinance, which “requires prior written recommendation of the Market Supervisor, the Municipal Treasurer, the Municipal Planning, and Development Coordinator, duly approved by the Sangguniang Bayan and the Municipal Mayor, before any demolition of a market stall may be undertaken.”