A picturesque glare of the horizon while the sunset along the sunken cemetery in Camiguin Island.
- Advertisement -

By EDWIN IYO
Correspondent .

THE vice mayor of Catarman town in Camiguin assumed as the town’s mayor on Monday.

- Advertisement -

Zosimo Borres took over as Catarman mayor days after the Department of Interior and  Local  Government served a decision of the Office of the Ombudsman to unseat mayor Nestor Jacot, according to former Camiguin provincial board member Periolo Banaag.

The ombudsman’s decision was served on orders from Interior Secretary Eduardo Año.

“Borres assumed as mayor of Catarman by virtue of the law on succession,” said Banaag.

In a 14-page decision this May 24, the Ombudsman-Mindanao found Jacot, municipal engineer Isidro Dablo Jr., and municipal disbursing officer Jardiño Jurial guilty of gross neglect of duty and serious dishonesty in connection with a 2017 administrative case filed by Catarman town treasurer Cecenia Jurial.

The ombudsman also slapped Jacot, Dablo and Jurial with a cancellation of eligibility, forfeiture of retirement benefits, and perpetual disqualification of holding government office.

There were two other respondents in the complaint identified as “job order” workers Christian Bana and Bido Malingin but the ombudsman dismissed the charges against the two for lack of evidence.

Banaag said the case was a result of an investigation made by the town treasurer who subsequently discovered that there were four workers listed in a reservoir project who did not report for work yet were in the town goverment’s payroll.

Banaag said she also found out that the signatures on the payroll were not the workers’.

The same names were also allegedly found in the contractor’s list of workers who constructed the reservoir project.

The complainant informed Jacot about the anomalies she uncovered but instead, the mayor made the complainant explain why she visited the construction site.

Disclaimer

Mindanao Gold Star Daily holds the copyrights of all articles and photos in perpetuity. Any unauthorized reproduction in any platform, electronic and hardcopy, shall be liable for copyright infringement under the Intellectual Property Rights Law of the Philippines.

- Advertisement -