Dumaguete City Mayor Manuel Sagarbarria denied insinuations he “footballed” an employee from his office for allegedly refusing to execute an affidavit on matters undertaken by a resident auditor of the Commission on Audit, while he was out of town on official business.

Sagarbarria said he revoked the designation of Alma Gatoc as secretary to the mayor, but said she is still an employee of the city government, with her appointment as executive secretary, and she is not barred from entering his office.

However, she is no longer authorized to sign anything in behalf of Sagarbarria.

Gatoc is reportedly on forced leave, but had removed her things from the table assigned to her as secretary to the mayor Friday. Unconfirmed reports said the disagreement between the mayor and his secretary was due to a personnel audit conducted by COA resident auditor Lourdes Algopera while he was in Manila.

In past interviews, Sagarbarria said he felt being singled out by COA in connection with certain findings of disallowances, due to the implementation of programs he inherited from his predecessors. A City Hall source said the audit team was reportedly going from one office to another, and took advantage of the mayor’s absence.

The source also said Gatoc had refused to execute an affidavit on what the COA did while two to three department heads have already done so. Another employee executed an affidavit that Gatoc was not forced to sign and was even requested to make her own sworn statement.*JG

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