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By NITZ ARANCON with SHIELA MAE BUTLIG

moreno DSCN0452_2THE ombudsman has ordered the dismissal of Mayor Oscar Moreno in connection with a tax settlement between city hall and Ajinomoto Philippines. The mayor was also perpetually barred from holding public office.

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Responding to the decision, Moreno yesterday said he would ask the ombudsman to reconsider and reverse the decision. If not, he said he would bring the matter to the Court of Appeals (CA), and seek an order against the ombudsman’s ruling.

“I was shocked with that decision,” said Moreno.

Based on a Nov. 5 press release posted on the website of the Office of the Ombudsman, Moreno and city treasurer Glenn Banez were found to have violated the Local Government Code by agreeing on a tax settlement with Ajinomoto without prior authorization from the city council.

Ombudsman Conchita Carpio Morales approved the decision against Moreno in Oct. 6 because the agreement allowed Ajinomoto to pay only P300 thousand instead of its original local business tax deficiency of P2.9 million.

Morales said the approval of the agreement by a court “cannot, in any way, legitimize the acts” of Moreno and Bañez.

Moreno called the ombudsman’s decision “harsh, cruel, and excessive.”

He said the ombudsman made a decision without going over the counter-affidavit he filed in June.

Moreno is only one of the three mayors and 27 other local officials in Mindanao who were ordered dismissed from service for offenses ranging from grave misconduct, serious dishonesty, gross neglect of duty, and conduct prejudicial to the best interest of the service. The other mayors are Mayor Vicente Fernandez of Matanao, Davao del Sur and Mayor Ali Untao Adiong of Ditsa-an Ramain, Lanao del Sur.

The ombudsman’s decision on Moreno came a month after it criminally indicted his predecessor, former mayor Vicente Emano, for willful refusal to implement a final and executory decision of the Civil Service Commission (CSC), in violation of the Revised Administrative Code of 1987. According to the ombudsman, the case stemmed from a complaint filed by city hall administrative assistant Leonor Esparcia who was transferred and detailed to the City Library as watchman,which resulted in the diminution of her rank or status. Esparcia won the case, and Emano failed to file an appeal and refused to implement the CSC directive.

The decision was based on the case filed by former Taglimao barangay chairperson William Guialani who accused Moreno of grave abuse of authority, grave misconduct, and violation of the code of conduct and ethical standards for public officials in connection with the city hall-Ajinomoto settlement. Guialani filed his certificate of candidacy for city councilor last month.

In June, Moreno told the ombudsman that Guialani’s motives were suspect, pointing out that he has filed a string of complaints against the mayor and announced early this year that he was running for a city council seat.

But Guialani said the issue was not his political plans but on why Ajinomoto was made to pay only some P300 thousand instead of some P2.9 million in taxes, excluding surcharges, from 2012 to 2016.

In an interview that same month, Moreno’s lawyer Jonathan Pacuribot, said the amount of the business tax paid was a court decision resulting from an official mediation. “It was the mediation board that exerted efforts to settle the case amicably,” he said.

Ajinomoto had sued city hall in 2014, and questioned Bañez’s move to classify its product as “non-essential.” It asked that the court declare its product as an “essential product” so that the tax rates would be different based on the local Revenue Code of 2003.

Pacuribot said the court then ordered Bañez and Ajinomoto to submit to the mediation board in order to settle the tax dispute. He argued Moreno and Bañez could not be held liable because the court favored the decision of the mediation board.

Moreno said he was unaware of the settlement made by Bañez and Ajinomoto executives but he defended the city treasurer’s act. He said Bañez was correct in reclassifying Ajinomoto’s products from essential to non-essential commodity.

“I still believe in the rule of law, and that justice will prevail. I hope the ombudsman will look deeper into this,” said Moreno, adding that he has yet to receive an official copy of the decision.

Guialani said, “Nalipay jud ko sa deisyon sa ombudsman, ug nalipay ko nga ang tingog sa kabos panahon na nga makaabot sa city hall kay ang akong advocacy ‘silutan ang kawatan sa gobyerno.’”

Guialani said it only took eight months for the ombudsman to decide on the case he filed. He filed it in March 2015.

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