Malacañang said it would leave to the Department of the Interior and Local Government Secretary Mel Senen Sarmiento the case of Palace ally Cagayan de Oro Mayor Oscar Moreno who had been dismissed by the Ombudsman due to grave abuse of authority.
“The DILG is normally deputized or empowered, authorized by the Office of the Ombudsman to carry out its actions. In any case, we will defer to the DILG on the implementation of the said order. In any case, there are available legal remedies to a party who may want to seek redress against any order of the Office of the Ombudsman,” said deputy Presidential Spokesperson Abigail Valte.
Cagayan de Oro City Vice Mayor Cesar Ian Acenas took his oath as the new mayor on Thursday, Nov. 12, a week after the Ombudsman dismissed Moreno. Councilor Lourdes Candy Darimbang, meanwhile, was sworn in as vice mayor.
The two were sworn in by Fiscal Abdullah Macagaan after a lawyer from the regional office of the Interior department served Moreno’s dismissal order.
Moreno, however, continued to hold office at city hall, saying he would file with the Court of Appeals on Friday morning an immediate motion for reconsideration with prayer for temporary restraining order.
On Thursday night, hundreds of employees stayed inside the city hall for a vigil.
Moreno was dismissed from the office after William Guialani, a businessman and former village chief, accused him of grave abuse of authority.
The city government, he alleged, entered into an agreement with Ajinomoto Philippines for a tax settlement.
The mayor said the Ombudsman investigators recommended his dismissal based on his supposed failure to submit his counter-affidavit. But Moreno claims that he actually filed his counter-affidavit.
“They [investigators] missed out my counter-affidavit and that’s a serious miscarriage of justice,” he said during a press conference last week.
Guialani, the complainant, appeared to think the Ombudsman’s action against Moreno was harsh. He told the local newspaper Goldstar Daily that the most he was expecting was for the Ombudsman to just suspend, not dismiss, Moreno.
He is now saying that there are hands at work to damage Moreno’s reputation.