Palace clears MisOcc dad from admin raps

By URIEL QUILINGUING Contributing Editor

MISAMIS

OCCIDENTAL

– The Office of the President has exonerated the town mayor of Bonifacio from abuse-of-authority complaint and reversed a suspension order the provincial board handed down December last year.

Executive Secretary Lucas P. Bersamen, who penned the decision by authority of the President, opined that the complainants failed to substantiate their charges against Mayor Samson R. Dumanjug.

Six village chiefs accused their mayor they were “intentionally and unjustifiably excluded from a travel order” to a five-day seminar-workshop on Comprehensive Local Juvenile Intervention Program in July 2022 they were supposed to attend.

Those who averred to have been singled out from the travel order were village chairpersons Sylvia B. Cabuguas, Emmanuel C. Cuizon, Carmelita Dago-oc, Rodolfo Malinao Jr., Teogenez R. Manzo Jr., and Raymond C. Retubado.

But the mayor, in his appeal to the Office of the President on December 12, 2022, said his office did not receive any written or verbal request from them for inclusion in the travel order.

The village leaders filed their administrative complaint on August 15, 2022 against Dumanjug to the provincial board, which subsequently penalized the town mayor with 15-day suspension without pay.

The 15-day suspension and without salary penalties were embodied in Misamis Occidental Provincial Board Resolution No. 770-22 on December 3, 2022.

“Any suspension or interruption of the people’s will must not only be thoroughly vetted but also observe the tenets of substantive and procedural process,” a portion of the seven-page decision states.

In reversing the suspension order, the decision also reminded the provincial board members that the service of elected officials is a direct mandate from the people, not by them.

The decision further states that it did not find substantial evidence to hold the Bonifacio town mayor liable for abuse of authority.

Dumanjug is entitled to the payment of his salaries and emoluments, it further ordered.