DavOr town mayor suspended for misconduct

FILE: The Office of the Ombudsman has ordered a one-month suspension of Cateel, Davao Oriental Mayor Erlinda Nuñez after she was found administratively liable for “simple misconduct.” (Photo: Office of the Ombudsman Philippines/Facebook)

MANILA — The Office of the Ombudsman has ordered a one-month suspension of Cateel, Davao Oriental Mayor Erlinda Nuñez after she was found administratively liable for “simple misconduct.”

Probers found that in July 2016, Nuñez appointed a certain Joan Grace Cadalzo to a vacant position of Barangay Kagawad of Barangay Poblacion despite the issuance of Barangay Resolution No. 016-2016 dated July 20, 2016, recommending someone else, Aldrin Castro, to fill the vacant post.

The complaint said, “The position of 7th Barangay Kagawad in Barangay Poblacion became vacant after the number one Barangay Kagawad assumed the position of the Barangay Captain, who was elected as the municipal councilor in the May 2016 elections.”

In its Jan. 4, 2018 decision, the Ombudsman said, “[The] respondent’s appointment of Cadalzo violates Section 45 of Republic Act No. 7160, or the ‘Local Government Code of 1991,’ which provides that permanent vacancies in the Sanggunian, where automatic succession [does not apply], shall be filled by appointment in the following manner: the city or municipal mayor, in the case of the sangguniang barangay, upon recommendation of the sangguniang barangay concerned.”

“It is clear from the above-provision that the Mayor’s power to appoint a Barangay Kagawad is subject to the recommendation of the Sangguniang Barangay. Prior to its recommendation, however, [Nuñez] already appointed Cadalzo as Barangay Kagawad,” the Ombudsman added.