• GILBERT P. BAYORAN
Calatrava Mayor Marilyn Era was found guilty by the Committee of the Whole of the Negros Occidental Sangguniang Panlalawigan for grave abuse of authority and gross negligence of duty, for the termination of consultancy services of two medical consultants at the Calatrava Municipal Hospital, although their contract has not expired yet.
The Committee of the Whole, acting as a quasi-judicial body, penalized Era with suspension for two successive months.
However, in consideration of the need for continuity in the provision of Public Service to the people of Calatrava, in lieu of her penalty for suspension, the mayor was fined equivalent to two months of her monthly salary, payable to complainant doctors, Lewyn Torres and Kristine Ureta, in accordance with the existing rules and law, in the implementation of the execution of this decision of the quasi-judicial body, which was signed by Vice Governor Jeffrey Ferrer.
Records of the Sangguniang Panlalawigan showed that Torres and Ureta were hired as medical consultants of the Calatrava Municipal Hospital for the period of three months, starting April 1 to June 30, 2024, through a memorandum of agreement signed between them and municipality of Calatrava, represented by Mayor Era.
In the last month of their consultancy services, the complainants said they were informed by Chief of Hospital, Dr. Ellen Lumanog, that they will not be receiving any schedule rotation for the month of June.
Complainants wrote a letter to Era, asking for clarification. But they got no response from the local chief executive. This prompted Torres and Ureta to submit their complaint-affidavit to the Sangguniang Panlalawigan, which referred to the Committee on Laws, Rules and Ordinances chaired by Sixto Teofilo Roxas Guanzon Jr.
During the preliminary conference presided over by Board Member Guanzon, it was decided that the complaint against respondents, Dr. Ellen Lumanog and Jeric Ryan Belargo should be dismissed for lack of jurisdiction, as the quasi-judicial body is not the forum for complaints against non-elected officials, as enunciated in the Section 61.b of the Local Government Code of 1991.
Complainants argued that their exclusion for the month of June work schedule amounting to pretermination of their service contract. Both also claimed that by not responding to their queries by Mayor Era regarding their work schedule, showing disregard for due process and neglect of duty, SP records indicated.
The complainants were not given a work schedule for the month of June because their services were no longer needed, according to Atty. Ariel Malunes, counsel of Mayor Era. However, it was found out by the SP committee that no written notice was served upon them, informing them that their services are no longer needed.
Respondents invoke the Arias Doctrine, which allows the public official to rely on subordinates in good faith for certain administrative functions, arguing that her responsibility to respond was delegated to the staff attributing the responsibility to them, rather than the mayor.
In the signing of Memorandum of Agreement, it was the respondent, Mayor Era, and not any of her subordinates, who signed the MOA, as first party, the SP committee said.
There was no showing that the respondent Mayor Era actually delegated the task of dealing with the complainant-doctors to any of her subordinates when they questioned their work assignments. The only thing the subordinates did for the respondent Mayor was to block access to the latter by the complainant-doctors, the SP decision further said. | GB
