By EUGENE ADIONG
BACOLOD City — The Aguinaldo Doctrine saved Valladolid mayor Rommel Yogore’s day.
Five employees of Valladolid were suspended for not holding a competitive public bidding.
The Office of the Ombudsman suspended the five — all members of the town’s Bids and Awards Committee — for three months without pay for simple misconduct.
They were Municipal Agriculturist Giovanni Robles, chair; Municipal Engineer Joseph Alfonso Manayon, vice chair; and Municipal Registrar Ernesto Genobis, Cashier III Daisy Galve, and Accounting Clerk II Merlene Magbanua, members.
In resorting to “shopping” for materials for the repair of their rural health unit amounting to P249,995, the committee violated the general mandate on competitive public bidding, the Ombudsman said.
The Ombudsman ordered the Department of Interior and Local Government regional director to implement the suspension.
Mayor Yogore would have been held liable, too, but the administrative charge against him had been dismissed.
The procurement happened in December 2008, according to the Ombudsman order. Yogore was already the mayor at the time.
However, Yogore was reelected in May 2010 — making the administrative case moot and academic under the Aguinaldo Doctrine, said the Ombudsman.
Larry Concepcion, a resident of Valladolid and a broadcaster for Radyo Veritas, filed the administrative complaint against the officials.
Also charged were Municipal Accountant Cheryl Aguirre, Municipal Treasurer Lilian Española, and Insp. Arnaldo Virgo.
But the Ombudsman also dismissed their cases for lack of evidence.
Ombudsman Conchita Carpio–Morales approved the decision suspending the five employees dated February 25, 2014.
The legal battle for Valladolid officials does not end here.
The Ombudsman earlier indicted Yogore, five other officials, and a supplier for violation of the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act.
Concepcion filed the criminal complaint against the same officials in view of the same project.
The Ombudsman recommended the filing of charges in court against Yogore, Robles, Manayon, Genobis, Galve, and Magbanua.
It also found probable cause to charge Jonie Nieve, owner of JB Nieve Hardware and Construction Supply, which supplied the repair materials./PN
