Ombudsman junks plea to suspend Nueva Ecija mayor, 7 others

CABIAO, Nueva Ecija, Philippines – The Office of Ombudsman has denied for lack of merit a motion for the issuance of a preventive suspension order against re-electionist Mayor Gloria Crespo-Congco and seven other officials of this town.

In a 10-page order approved by Ombudsman Conchita Carpio-Morales, the Office of the Deputy Ombudsman for Luzon also junked the motion to suspend Vice Mayor Ernesto Talens Jr., Councilors Danilo Bagan, Danilo Clemente, Luisito Relucio, Jose Talens and Dante Umali, and municipal council secretary Luisito Guevarra.

The anti-graft body threw out the complaint filed by councilors Julito Wycoco and Rodrigo Rivera after finding no strong evidence to warrant the suspension of Congco and the seven other local officials pending an investigation into the administrative complaint for grave misconduct of Wycoco and Rivera.

In their complaint-affidavit, Wycoco and Rivera sought the respondents’ preventive suspension after accusing them of conspiring in allegedly falsifying two appropriation ordinances of the municipal council and misappropriating at least P10.48 million in public funds supposedly for their personal interests and political gain.

The Ombudsman said the complainants “alleged that the respondents unlawfully spent millions of pesos but (they) surprisingly failed to buttress such allegations with telling proof such as a copy of an audit report from the Commission on Audit.”

“It is a basic rule that bare allegations, unsubstantiated by evidence, are not equivalent to proof. In short, mere allegations are not evidence,” it added.