SAN FERNANDO CITY, La Union, Philippines – Mayor Hermenegildo Gualberto of this city has been dismissed from the service over the alleged misuse of funds for the construction of a dancing fountain as part of the rehabilitation of a plaza.
“Mayor Gualberto was found guilty of grave misconduct and gross neglect of duty and meted the penalty of dismissal from the service pursuant to the Revised Rules on Administrative Cases in the Civil Service,” a decision signed by Edilberto Sandoval, acting overall deputy ombudsman, read.
Complaints for grave misconduct, gross neglect of duty, grave abuse of authority and technical malversation of funds were filed against Gualberto for allocating P66.5 million from the city government’s 2017 and 2018 internal development funds to upgrade the plaza.
The technical malversation case was dismissed due to insufficient evidence while grave abuse of authority was included in the charge of grave misconduct.
Samuel Jucar, chairman of Barangay Cadaclan, and 40 other barangay captains filed the complaint on Jan. 28 last year, saying the city council did not authorize the mayor to undertake the rehabilitation.
Jucar cited a report of the Commission on Audit which showed that rehabilitating the plaza “does not fall squarely” within the context of the projects that could be funded using development funds.
Gualberto was suspended for six months in April in connection with the complaints. He was reelected while serving the suspension order last year.
In a post on Facebook, Gualberto said he respects the ombudsman’s decision, but would appeal the ruling.
“This doesn’t mean that we agree with such quick litigation or that we are giving up our fight... Contrary to allegations, we did not do anything wrong. There was no basis for these accusations. There is no missing public fund,” he said.