DAVAO CITY—At least 50 erring City Hall employees are currently under investigation by a committee that was revived after Mayor Sara Duterte signed Executive Order 06 series of 2017, which aims to probe complaints against government officials.
Lawyer Enrique Bonocan of the City Legal Office said since Duterte took office as mayor, his office has received at least 50 such complaints—most of them attendance-related offenses filed by their superiors.
Bonocan said anyone can file a complaint by writing to the office of the mayor. The investigating team will then validate the complaint and examine the erring employee.
“Anyone can just file their complaint. If they want to be anonymous, we will respect it, we will even provide them a lawyer,” he said.
After validating the complaint, the investigating team will classify it as a “light,” “less grave” or “grave misconduct” case against the concerned City Hall employee, who can be dismissed from the service if proven guilty.
Bonocan, however, stressed that a complainant can only file one case at a time.
“We will not let a complainant file several cases at a time, he can only file one and wait until the case is finished before he can file another one,” he said.
During the term of President Rodrigo Duterte as mayor of Davao, at least 10 erring employees were dismissed after the investigating committee found them guilty of the complaints filed against them.
Most of these dismissed employees came from the City Treasurer’s Office, with a case of embezzlement of public funds.
It can also be remembered that when the older Duterte heard rumors of corruption in the Business Bureau office here, he immediately sacked all the employees, from the department head to the janitor.
