TUGUEGARAO CITY, Cagayan – The suspended Mayor of Nagtipunan Town, Hon. Nieverose Meneses has appealed before the Office of the President over the decision of the Sangguniang Panlalawigan (SP) Quirino. Mayor Meneses said the decision is ‘unfair’ and has not enough evidence to suspend her. “Hindi makatarungan at walang sapat na batayang paglilitis sa kaniya ng Sangguniang Panlalawigan,” she told The Northern Forum.
It was on July 14, 2021 when the SP’s ruling suspended Mayor Meneses of Nagtipunan town for a complaint of Section 3 of RA 3019 or graft and corruption. The mayor is suspended until the end of the election period.
The complaint stemmed from a complaint of her Tourism Officer Lloyd Lozado Toly, who claimed that Meneses has abused her authority by re-assigning him. Meneses was also accused of owning Landingan Viewpoint, a tourism site in the said town. However, Meneses explained that Landingan Viewpoint is part of an ancestral domain title of the Bugkalot tribe which has a Memorandum of Agreement with the Local Government Unit as a tourism site.
Before the filing of complaint at the SP, the mayor also directed the grievance committee of LGU Nagtipunan due to a complaint on gross neglect of duty, dishonesty and grave misconduct of Toloy. The office of the Mayor has been receiving complaints on Toloy for not following direct orders from the local chief.
Over a-100 page decision, Meneses said that the SP based their decision purely on words without any evidence supporting the claim of the Toloy. “Walang basehan ang reklamo ni Toloy dahil walang naprisitang ebidenya sa sa pagdinig sa Sangguniang Panlalawigan,” she pointed out.
“Given these, it is my bounden duty to investigate his administrative and criminal offenses,and impose the preventive suspension which he now used as basis to impute unfoundedand malicious charges. Is the exercise of a lawful mandate now considered as ‘abuse of authority’? Let me remind the provincial board that we are still living in a democracy, not Martial Law. Their actions are far worse than under a dictatorship!” she emphatically said.
Meneses further stressed that “nowhere in our CSC rules expressly curtail her lawful prerogative to reassign any personnel and, contrary to the claim of constructive dismissal, the complainant is telling a lie because he was never removed or dismissed, demoted nor reduced of his salary. He was still able to get his pay.”
Moreover, the town mayor clarified that the Vice Governor is mistaken to say that the suspension is ‘immediately executor.’ She refuted the statement, saying that the SP Rules no less expressly provides that the order to suspend her takes effect only after the lapse of 30 days. “That is a blatant misreading of the local government code which likewise provides for an appeal period before the same order of suspension may lapse into finality,” Meneses said.
Meanwhile, on the side of the SP, it was explained that the case was about the rights of Toloy who was re-assigned to Diadian Cave. “Pinuntahan ng SP ang mismong lugar kung saan itinalaga ang complainant at nakita nila mismo kung gaano kahirap pumunta doon. Mula sa pagsakay ng bangka para tawirin ang Cagayan River, pag-arkila ng 6×6 truck na hindi bababa sa P8,000 balikan tapos maglalakad pa para lang marating ang Diadian cave,” the SP said.
Moreover, the SP also explained that the complainant may experience significant financial dislocation since the service vehicle was also removed from him.
Presently, Meneses has written a letter to the DILG Central Office, and appealed to the Office of the President to look into the case. She also vowed to seek all legal remedies available under her arsenal to reversethe decision without lawful causes, prove her critics wrong, and regain her integrity andhonor against her political adversaries, “even to the point of arguing her case up to the Supreme Court.
Atty. Mila Lauigan, SP member of Cagayan, explained that if a Local Chief Executive is charged administratively, the Sangguniang Panlalawigan can hear and receive evidences of the case and recommend the appropriate sanction or administrative penalty which is subject to the approval of the Governor.
“The Sangguniang Panlalawigan has concorrent jurisdiction together with the Office of the Ombudsman in administrative cases. The criminal complaint can be simultaneously filed with the administrative case in the Ombudsman. Once a probable cause is found in the Criminal Complaint, the Sandiganbayan hears the case and imposes the appropriate sanction,” Lauigan explained. The suspended mayor is an indigenous political leader from the Bugkalot tribe. TNF