• GILBERT P. BAYORAN
A municipal councilor in La Castellana, Negros Occidental, who was implicated in the P15-million police recruitment scam, was suspended for 15 days and slapped with a fine of P3,000 by the Municipal Council.
Councilor Leonardo Bacquian, chairperson of the committee on rules, said that in a special session on Nov. 18, they unanimously approved the suspension without renumeration of Councilor Donato “Nat-Nat” Dumaguit for his 13 days of unexplained absences in their regular and special sessions.
Dumaguit earlier expressed fear for his life, after he was linked to police recruitment scam, where about 43 police aspirants had been victimized.
He and a certain Mary June de los Santos were accused of mulcting money from the applicants in exchange for a supposed assured slot in the Philippine National Police.
The victims were asked to pay as much as almost P300,000 each.
Bacquian said that Dumaguit stopped attending the sessions after he was implicated in the recruitment scam.
The suspension of Dumaguit, which took effect Nov. 18, “is without prejudice to the filing of charges against him”, he added.
While all of them voted for Dumaguit’s expulsion from the Municipal Council, Bacquian said it is only the court that can officially issue such order.
He added that charges are now being prepared for filing in court against Dumaguit, who is also facing multiple counts of large-scale estafa, before the Negros Occidental Provincial Prosecutor’s Office, which was lodged against him and De los Santos by the complainant-police aspirants. | GB
