By NITZ ARANCON
Correspondent
FORMER councilor Lourdes Darimbang has written to city hall to ask that she be given her terminal leave benefits as “vice mayor” of the city for six months.
Darimbang sent the letter to Mayor Oscar Moreno, through acting city administrator Dionnie Gersana. In it, she asserted that she served as vice mayor of the city from Nov. 15, 2015 up to June 30, 2016.
The July 11 letter prompted Gersana to seek the opinion of city legal officer Donald Delegencia, and City Human Resources Management officer Ma. Dulce Baculio.
Darimbang, in her letter, said she was entitled to receive her terminal leave payment from city hall not as a councilor but as vice mayor for six months.
Part of her letter reads: “This refers to my desire to apply for terminal leave from Nov. 15, 2015, to June 30, 2016, in my capacity as city vice mayor based on my oath of assumption to office as city vice mayor of Cagayan de Oro from November 13, 2015, to June 30, 2016 where (sic) my term ends.”
Darimbang earlier submitted an application application for leave as a councilor. But in the July 11 letter, she asked that the position be changed from councilor to vice mayor.
“Anent to this, may I respectfully inform you that the application for leave form No. 6 issued to the undersigned was erroneously filled up (sic) since the position stated in the said form was in my previous position as city councilor,” reads another part of the letter. “In view hereof, may I request that the such erroneous entry be correted and instead be replaced as city vice mayor and that the leave credits of my terminal leave should be in accordance with the aforementioned position, including the deferential of my RATA (Representation and Transportation Allowance) from November 15, 2015 to June 30, 2016.”
Darimbang received P62,670 a month from city hall as councilor for three years.
She ran for congresswoman in the 1st District in the May elections but lost to Rep. Rolando Uy.
In November 2015, she and the then vice mayor Caesar Ian Acenas declared themselves as vice mayor and mayor and took their oath, respectively, because of an order from the Office of the Ombudsman to dismiss and bar from public office Mayor Moreno. A standoff resulting from the political crisis at city hall was cut short by a status quo ante order from the Court of Appeals.
In late June, she and Acenas staged another takeover attempt after the ombudsman upheld its 2015 ruling against Moreno. The case has been brought to the appellate court.
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.
