Mayor faces graft raps for defying CSC order

MANILA, Philippines - A municipal mayor in Sultan Kudarat has been ordered charged with graft for refusing to follow orders issued by the Civil Service Commission.

Graft investigators found probable cause to indict Mayor Diosdado Pallasigue of Isulan town for refusing to reinstate a municipal official.

The Office of the Ombudsman said Pallasigue refused to implement a return to work order issued by the CSC in favor of municipal planning and development coordinator Elias Segura Jr. in March 2014.

In a seven-page ruling issued on Wednesday, the ombudsman said Pallasigue acted in bad faith when he refused, without cause, to reinstate Segura.

Investigation showed that in 2007, Pallasigue abolished the municipal economic enterprise development office and reassigned Segura to the Office of the Mayor.

Segura was directed to report to the municipal integrated public terminal, an office with no equipment, fixture, supply and personnel, and located a kilometer and a half away from the municipal hall.

The mayor allegedly withheld the payment of Segura’s allowances in March 2008.

Segura appealed the reassignment order before the CSC, which ruled in his favor.

In March 2014, the CSC ordered Pallasigue to reinstate Segura as municipal planning development officer, which the mayor refused to do.

Graft probers said Pallasigue refused to act or implement the directives from competent authorities.