Olongapo City Mayor Charged By DILG For Violating ECQ Violations
OLONGAPO CITY MAYOR – The DILG recently said that it filed charges against Olongapo City Mayor Rolen Paulino Jr for violating ECQ protocols.
According to Manila Bulletin, the DILG filed the mayor before Office of the Ombudsman for issuing policies that violated protocols that were imposed by the Inter-Agency Task Force on the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-MEID).
DILG Undersecretary and spokesman Jonathan Malaya said that the departmen first issued a show cause order last April against the mayor for organizing a mass gathering in the distribution of social amelioration cards (SAC) for the first tranche of SAP or the social amelioration program.
“In that instance, we already admonished him and warned him to fully comply with IATF regulations, otherwise we may be compelled to charge him,”
Malaya added that once again Paulino violated protocol when he issued EO No. 54, series of 2020 on May 21, which allows riding or “angkas” in his LGU. This is a direct violation of the physical and social distancing protocol.
“The issuance of EO 54-A does not extinguish the mayor’s liability for issuing EO 54 which violated a clear national policy prohibiting back riding. In fact, in saying that it merely suspended EO 54 ‘until such time’ that it is consonant with national rules proves that he did not completely abandon the previous EO,”
“The EO issued by the Olongapo Mayor in May clearly runs counter to the directives of the national government that were earlier issued in March as well as the Bayanihan to Heal as One Act enacted on March 24,”
Furthermore, Paulino’s EO also violated DILG Memorandum Circular (MC) No. 2020-062, that ordered local government units (LGUs) to strictly observe the guidelines implemented by the government.
The said EO also a breach of DILG MC No. 2020-083 which strictlyt indicates that the ‘no backrider policy’ will be implemented.
“We are dismayed because as the local chief executive of Olongapo, he should be the first to follow the guidelines issued by the national government. The Bayanihan Act passed in March mandates that all LGUs should act within the letter and spirit of all the rules, regulations, and directives issued by the national government and are implementing standards of community quarantine consistent with what the national government has laid down to address COVID-19. And yet he issued his own policies inconsistent with national policies,”
Based on the report, Malaya said that before the implementation of the Bayanihan Law, the Proclamation No. 922 and Proclamation No. 929, which declares a State of Public Health Emergency throughout the Philippines and State of Calamity, respectively, requires all government agencies and LGUs to provide full assistance and cooperation in order to contain the spread of COVID-19.
This, according to Malaya, is basis enough to charge Paulino for the following:
- gross neglect of duty,
- grave misconduct,
- violation of Republic Act No. 11469, the Bayanihan Act,
- violation of Republic Act No. 11332,
- open disobedience under Article 231 of the Revised Penal Code.
“The matter is now in the hands of the Office of the Ombudsman,’’
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