Malay mayor suspended on eve of Boracay Island reopening

ILOILO City – The Office of the Ombudsman ordered the preventive suspension of Malay, Aklan mayor Ciceron Cawaling yesterday, a day before the soft opening of Boracay Island.

Boracay is under the administrative jurisdiction of Malay.

Cawaling and 16 other officials in Aklan province were charged with neglect of duty by the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) in June for Boracay’s environmental woes.

DILG officer-in-charge Eduardo Año confirmed the preventive suspension order yesterday. He said his department would be implementing it.

Cawaling could not be reached for comment as of this writing.

Año said Malay vice mayor Abram Sualog would be Malay’s acting mayor.

The duration of Cawaling’s preventive suspension was unclear as of this writing.

The Ombudsman website’s “Frequently Asked Questions” section, however, has this explanation to the question, “What is the duration of the preventive suspension?”:

“The preventive suspension shall continue until the case is terminated; however, the total period of preventive suspension should not exceed six months, without pay. Nevertheless, when the delay in the disposition of the case is due to the fault negligence or any cause attributable to the respondent, the period of such delay shall not be counted in computing the period of suspension herein provided.”

On June 27, DILG undersecretary Epimaco Densing III filed administrative and criminal charges against Cawaling, Sualog and 15 Aklan local officials before the Ombudsman.

But Sualog said the alleged violations cited in the charges happened before he assumed office in 2016.

These alleged violations were allowing the illegal operation of some businesses or operating without mayor’s permit, allowing structures in no-build zones such as wetlands, tolerating violations of the easement rules, issuing mayor’s permit without Fire Safety Inspection Certificate (FSIC) from the Bureau of Fire Protection and other similar violations of laws and admin regulations.

The other respondents were Aklan’s Gov. Florencio Miraflores, Provincial Environment and Natural Resources Officer Valentin Talabero, Sangguniang Bayan members Natalie Cawaling-Paderes, Jupiter Gallenero, Floribar Bautista, Lloyd Maming, Dalidig Sumandad, Maylynn Aguirre-Graf, Danilo Delos Santos, and Dante Pagsuguiron, Licensing Officer III Jen Salsona, Municipal Environment and Natural Resources Officer Edgardo Sancho, and barangay officials Hector Casidsid, Chona Gabay and Lilibeth Sacapaño.

Their status vis-a-vis the case remained unclear as of this writing./PN