By SHIELA MAE BUTLIG
Correspondent
CITY accountant Beda Joy Elot and city budget officer Percy Salazar have continued performing their tasks at city hall and may not be slapped with a suspension order yet despite an order from the Court of Appeals (CA).
Their lawyer Bryan Dale Mordeno yesterday said the two city hall officials have 15 days from Thursday, Oct. 6, to appeal their case before the appellate court.
Elot and Salazar were slapped with a 90-day suspension order by the Office of the Ombudsman for simple misconduct in connection with city hall’s lease of a house owned by former provincial board member Jimmy Caiña in Barangay Macasandig without the approval of the city council.
Last week, the CA upheld the ombudsman’s decision to suspend the two officials but spared Mayor Oscar Moreno because of a rule that he cannot be suspended for an offense that was committed during his first office term. Moreno, who was reelected in May, was merely ordered by CA to pay a fine equivalent to three months of salary.
According to Mordeno, Mayor Moreno would be compelled to cause the suspension of his subordinates after 15 days from receipt of the CA order.
But Mordeno said this would only happen if Elot and Salazar do not file a motion for reconsideration before the court.
He said he was preparing the appeal, and if plans don’t miscarry, he would file it anytime this week.
“The 15-day period within which to file a motion for reconsideration is provided in the Rules of Court. In the meantime and while the motion for reconsideration is pending resolution, the concerned respondents will remain in office unless the order of their suspension will be implemented,” Mordeno said.
He said Elot and Salazar merely did their job as city accountant and city budget officer, respectively, and he plans to point this out using documents .
Mordeno said documents he was gathering would be enough to convince the CA that his clients are innocent.
“Daghan man mi mga documents nga wala na-present sa CA,” said Mordeno, adding that it was his opinion that Elot’s and Salazar’s counter-affidavits were not appreciated by the appellate court because the documents were not submitted.
One of the documents to be presented is the city’s Appropriations Ordinance of 2015.
Mordeno said the ordinance would show city hall’s budget for rental expenses, and it would justify the use of P175 thousand for the lease of Caiña’s house for the training of young boxers under the Moreno administration’s sports program.
“Baga man gud kaayo ni,” he said. “Although naa mi na-present, dili gyud ang tibuok nga copy. Only portions of it,” he said.
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