by Miriam G. Desacada
Catarman N Samar–The Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) Northern Samar served the 6-month suspension order from the Ombudsman against Mayor Joey Suan of Allen town of Northern Samar.
Suan on Friday (January 12) officially received the Ombudsman order issued after it found the mayor administratively liable for grave abuse of authority over a road construction controversy, involving Maricon Ablig, a mother of Councilor M ark John, who happened to be a member of an opposing political party.
Suan, insisting on his role as town mayor, in the past ordered the demolition of a concrete fence put up by the elder Ablig across an already paved road.
Declaring the fence as an illegal construction on a public road, the Municipal Local Government Operations officer recommended to Suan that it be demolished based on DILG Memo Circular 2020-027 mandating the clearing of roads from illegal obstructions.
Ablig defended the construction of the fence to stop public access to the road, which she said transversed her private property. She contended that construction of the road intruded into her property and, if it was a matter of expropriation, then the LGU did not compensate her justly as provided for by law.
After Suan demolished her fence, Ablig filed a complaint before the Ombudsman against the mayor accusing the latter of grave abuse of authority, which the Ombudsman eventually confirmed.
In its decision, penned by Deputy Ombudsman Jose Balmeo Jr. on August 30 last year, the Ombudsman ruled that Mayor Suan committed “deliberate failure to investigate the road construction, despite multiple expressions of disapproval from the complainant, unfortunately indicates bad faith on his part.”
After the Ombudsman ordered him suspended for six months, Suan on December 28 last year filed a motion for reconsideration of the decision and its possible reversal, asserting that he did only his job as mayor.
Besides, compensation on the property was not considered because it was believed all along that it was public property much more when, during the road construction there, the supposed private lot owner never raised a complaint or question of property trespassing until the road was completed.
When the DILG finally served the suspension order of the Ombudsman last Friday, Suan told the local media that he is not ashamed of it because it was not due to financial matters or corruption such as involving public funds, but it was due to his act of defending public rights against illegal road obstructions.
The mayor’s term of suspension started on January 12, the day the order was officially served on him. On this day, the DILG also installed Vice Mayor Christian G. Lao as the town’s temporary mayor, and First Councilor Ronnel P. Cajandab as the interim vice mayor or presiding officer of the Municipal Council.
The local media learned that both Lao and Cajandab belong to the political party that has been opposing the mayor’s. —-Miriam G. Desacada