SAGIP Party-list Rep. Rodante Marcoleta (Facebook)

SAGIP Party-list Rep. Rodante Marcoleta can’t help but think that there is preferential treatment on the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) given their seemingly nonchalant action against the erring local officials of San Simon, Pampanga.

During the House Committee on Public Accounts hearing on Tuesday, June 25, Marcoleta questioned this slow action even as he noted that the agency was quick to file a criminal complaint against Bamban, Tarlac Mayor Alice Guo over her alleged involvement with a Philippine Offshore and Gaming Operator (POGO) in her town.

“I remember in the Senate hearing, with respect to that Senate Resolution involving the mayor of Bamban, hindi ko po alam anong dokumento ang nakuha nila doon pero yung DILG…napakabilis po ninyong umaksyon pagdating sa mayor ng Bamban,” Marcoleta said.

(I don't know what document they got there but the DILG...you acted very quickly when it came to the mayor of Bamban.)

“Ano po ba ang threshold na hinahanap natin? (What is the threshold we are looking for?)” he asked.

Marcoleta says the committee has revealed “truckloads” of information against the local government officials of San Simon, yet there is still no action from the DILG.

The public accounts panel, chaired by Abang Lingkod Party-list Rep. Joseph Stephen "Caraps" Paduano, has been investigating the town’s Mayor Abundio Punsalan over his alleged illegal use and misuse of public funds, unauthorized land conversion, and procurement irregularities.

“The committee meetings speak volumes of documents proving the massive irregularity,” Marcoleta said, noting that there have been six hearings over this matter.

Lawyer Leo Menguito, a member of the DILG’s legal services, clarified that the agency was only quick to file a criminal complaint against Guo in the Office of the Ombudsman because a task force was created to oversee the case.

Menguito also cited Administrative Order (AO) No. 23, signed in 1992, which he said bars the agency from initiating a complaint in the Ombudsman. This is supposedly why the department is slow to act against the San Simon mayor and other officials.

For his part, Marcoleta cited Section 60 of the Local Government Code which features the grounds for disciplinary actions against elective local officials.

The veteran lawmaker particularly took note of paragraph 8 of this section, which states: “An elective local official may be removed from office on the grounds enumerated above by order of the proper court”.

“So papaano tayo magkakaroon ng order of the proper court kung hindi naman kayo magi-initiate ng case para po sa gano’n magkaroon ng bisa yung section 60,” he said. 

(So how can we have an order of the proper court if you are not going to initiate a case for section 60 to be effective?)

Marcoleta stressed that Section 60 doesn’t have any violation for the DILG if it chooses to file a complaint

“I am hoping that the officer of the DILG will be serious enough to file the appropriate complaints based on the evidence we have gathered so far, after six hearings of this committee,” he added.

In response, DILG’s Menguito said he would relay to the appropriate officials to initiate the proper complaint against erring officials of San Simon, Pampanga.