Cañosa says plaint part of smear drive, meant to harass team

By CONG B. CORRALES
Associate Editor

THE vice mayor of Gingoog City on Wednesday called the graft complaint filed against him as a “demolition job” meant to harass councilors who have joined his group in an effort to replace the Guingona administration.

Vice Mayor Erick Cañosa said the date of the filing of the graft complaint against him is already suspect.

“This case is clearly politically motivated. The case was filed on Nov. 2, 2015. That is just days after I filed my certificate of candidacy. I have been in public service for nine years already. This is the first time that I have been accused of wrongdoing,” Cañosa said.

Chito Dayoc, 63, of Barangay 18-A, Gingoog, alleged in his 10-page affidavit that he was hired to serve in the city council, under the office of Cañosa, as a “job order” worker in January 2015, and that Councilor Ernesto Chaves recruited him.

Dayoc also alleged that Chaves assured him that he “need not report or work but only go to city hall to claim my salaries.”

Cañosa said, “He is not a ghost employee. I have 60 ‘job order’ employees under my direct supervision as head of the Sangguniang Panglungsod. I may not know them all personally but there is a process, with its checks and balances, that pretty much assures transparency.”

He said they have already submitted their counter-affidavits and joint position paper, a copy of which Cañosa furnished this paper.

“The burden proof… is on the plaintiff who is the party asserting the affirmative of an issue. He has the burden of presenting evidence required to obtain a favorable judgment, and he, having the burden of proof, will be defeated if no evidence were given on either side,” the position paper reads in part.

He said they asked the ombudsman to dismiss Dayoc’s complaint for its “utter lack of merit.”

The case is currently docketed under OMB-M-A-15-0494. Together with Cañosa, Chaves and city council secretary Maria Theresa Mortiz-Arao have also been implicated in the graft case.

In a stack of documents Cañosa showed this paper, Jessie Reyes, the city’s human resource department, certified that Dayoc reported for work from Jan. 1 to Oct. 31, last year. Cañosa said all the signatures in Dayoc’s daily time records, performance reports, and fieldwork logs were consistently Dayoc’s.

Cañosa explained that before a ‘job order’ employee gets his salary, the employee’s documents go through the scrutiny of four departments: Human Resource, Budget, Accounting, then the City Treasurer’s Office.

“I vouch for these persons. Is he (Dayoc) saying that all four department heads conspired? If so, why didn’t he include (John Venice) Ladaga (city assistant department head) when Ladaga is also a signatory in all the documents certifying he was a legitimate ‘job order’ employee?”

Cañosa said the only reason he could think of is because most of the city councilors have shifted to his slate. The vice mayor is running against reelectionist Mayor Marie Guingona.

He said that seven of the councilors have filed their CoCs under his slate. He added Mortiz-Arao’s father, a councilor, is seeking reelection under his group.

“I can categorically say that there are no ghost employees in my jurisdiction which is the Sangguniang Panglunsod. As for the entire city government, that I cannot vouch,” Cañosa said.

The Gingoog city hall currently has 1,500 ‘job order’ employees, according to him.

In a way, he said, he has Dayoc to thank for making the allegation on “ghost employees” in city hall. He said his legal team has been looking into alleged “ghost employees” in the local government.