Bacolod City Legal Officer Rayfrando Diaz ll filed a counter affidavit asking the Office of the Ombudsman to dismiss for lack of merit the complaint filed against him by Councilor Carlos Jose Lopez in relation to the suspension order for two employees of the Office of the Building Official.

Diaz said Lopez claimed that they showed favor to OBO head Isidro Sun Jr. and building inspector Jose Maria Makilan by delaying the implementation of their suspension, in abuse of their duties and powers as officials of the city.

He said they did not delay the implementation as alleged by Lopez but only wanted to follow the correct process.

Diaz said they issued an opinion that they cannot rely on the copy of the suspension order of the Ombudsman from Lopez and the complainants who filed the case against Sun and Makilan.

He said that, as a matter of procedure, the mayor has to wait for the official copy of the order directly from the Ombudsman to implement its decision.

The Office of the Mayor received the official copy on December 9, 2014, signed by Sarah Jo Vergara, office-in-charge of the Central Records Management Office, and the suspension order was finalized and signed by the mayor on Dec. 12 but was served to Sun on Dec. 16 and to Makilan on Dec 15, Diaz said.

He also said the memorandum was issued three days after it was received by the Office of the Mayor who then wrote the Office of the Ombudsman furnishing it copies of the suspension order, and explaining that, in the spirit of Christmas, the effectivity of the suspension order was set on January 1, 2015.

He said he does not understand why Lopez filed a case against him when he is not the authority that can implement the order.

A criminal case for falsification of public/official document was filed against Sun and Makilan before the Regional Trial Court in relation to the building permit application of Mainstream Business Incorporated for the expansion of the north wing of SM City Bacolod.

The case was filed by section heads Sharon Gayanelo, Cary Memoria and Glenda Pajes, of the OBO Architectural Section, Structural Section and Plumbing and Sanitary Section, respectively, on Nov. 3.

The complainants had earlier filed criminal and administrative complaints against Sun and Makilan before the Office of the Ombudsman in the Visayas that ordered the filing of a criminal case against them before the court. It  also meted them penalty of suspension without pay for six months and one day, after finding them guilty of the administrative offense of conduct prejudicial to the best interest of the service, based on the order of the Ombudsman.

The criminal case was ordered filed after finding probable cause to indict them for falsification of official document.*CGS

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