ILOILO City – Four employees of the city government’s Zoning Office and another from the City Planning and Development Office (CPDO) have been relieved from their posts.
Mayor Jerry Treñas ordered yesterday their sacking. These five employees, according to Treñas, violated “ethical standards for public officials or employees” when they toured to a resort in Antique.
The resort was owned by a private person who had transactions with the Zoning Office, said Treñas.
“Kagapon dayun I gave the instruction that all of them will be relieved from their office,” Treñas said in an interview over DYOK Aksyon Radyo Friday morning.
Incidentally, the resort was also where the group of then Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP) Region 6 director Superintendent Roderick Aguto controversially visited last week aside from their trip to Boracay Island.
Treñas, however, clarified that the relief of the five employees was not connected to the Antique trip of over 20 BFP-6 personnel.
On Thursday, he tasked Atty. Ruben Torres, City Zoning Administrator, to conduct an initial investigation to verify the information about the trip of these employees.
The result showed that these five city hall workers went to the resort on June 13 and 14 upon the invitation of a certain Miriam Penoscas.
Torres presented three timelines in his report submitted to Treñas on Thursday noon. These were the following:
* The five personnel of CPDO/ Zoning Office went on a trip to Anini-y, Antique upon the invitation of Penoscas on June 13 and 14, 2020.
* The BFP-6 regional director and his personnel were reported to have also visited the same place on the invitation of Penoscas but on different dates – June 6 and 7, 2020. This party subsequently to Boracay after June 7.
* The BFP-6 personnel who test positive for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) was reported to have breached her quarantine and reportedly travelled to Boracay on June 12, 2020 directly from Iloilo and did not drop by Anini-y in Antique. Contact therefore with the CPDO/Zoning Office personnel reportedly did not happen.
Earlier, Treñas ordered the mandatory COVID-19 testing of all city hall employees after receiving information that some city workers had mingled with the BFP group.
“All city hall employees will be swabbed and placed under strict quarantine,” Treñas said in a text message forwarded by the Public Information Office to members of the media.
Treñas said he received photos via email but did not release these publicly yet. Those on the trip included Aguto and the BFP personnel who tested positive for COVID-19.
The female personnel was allegedly one of the 27 who travelled to Boracay Island on June 12 to 14 for what BFP said was a conference, but photos circulating online showed that the trip resembled a despedida (farewell party).
On Thursday, 27 more personnel of the BFP-6 have been relieved from their posts by the Department of Interior and Local Government.
Like their sacked regional director, they would be investigated, too.
“A total of 28 personnel were relieved from their positions. Of course, they are under quarantine and would undergo reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction tests,” said Interior Secretary Eduardo Año.
He ordered the creation of a team from the BFP national headquarters to conduct the probe.
The Interior secretary also said 24 staff of the hotel where the BFP-6 personnel stayed and nine boatmen who ferried the group would also be subjected to quarantine./PN
