By MAE SINGUAY
BACOLOD City — Mayor Monico Puentevella said his office is investigating City Legal Office (CLO) lawyers Cesar Beloria and Sarah Villamor.
The issue between Beloria and Villamor started when the former furnished other offices copies of his recommendation on AVM Bernardo Engineering.
Puentevella said he will create a committee to solve the problem at the CLO.
He said they cannot yet determine what action to apply for Beloria unless they finish investigating.
“Beloria is a good lawyer and a good man. He thought he did what he did with good intention,” said Puentevella.
Surpassing one’s superior is a problem; surpassing the mayor is a bigger problem, he said.
Beloria, tasked to study AVM’s case, had recommended the issuance of a business permit to AVM, operator of the city’s slaughter in Brgy. Handumanan here.
He furnished copies of his recommendation to the City Council, City Treasure’s Office, and Permits and Licensing Division, among others.
But Villamor, CLO head, said Beloria’s report was supposedly an interoffice communication, and copies of it were given out without the “knowledge, authority, and clearance” of her and the mayor.
Beloria must follow his superior and the mayor; doing otherwise would get him in trouble, said Puentevella.
“What I did was all in good faith and belief and in accord to the rules and procedures consistently observed in the office,” Beloria said./PN
