Suspended Cebu Gov. Gwen Garcia should file a counter-affidavit to the cases filed against her, Ombudsman Samuel Martires said.
The Ombudsman earlier slapped a six-month suspension against the reelectionist governor for allowing the issuance of a permit to a construction company despite the absence of an environmental compliance certificate.
Garcia’s legal counsel, Alex Avisado Jr., however, said the governor is well within her rights not to step down.
“The governor is just exercising legal remedies available to her. Under the Local Government Code, no preventive suspension should be issued 90 days prior to an election,” he said.
Avisado said their camp has already sought clarification from the Department of Interior and Local Government.
Martires, in a statement, said: “It should be clear by now to Governor Gwendolyn Garcia and to everyone that the preventive suspension order that was issued in the administrative case arose from, or is in relation to, the criminal case for violation of Section 3(e) of Republic Act 3019.”
“Any violation of any of the Sections of Republic Act 3019 must, in the corresponding administrative case, be classified or denominated either as grave misconduct, serious dishonesty, gross negligence, conduct prejudicial to the best interest of the service or any of the offenses defined under the Civil Service Law,” he added.
Garcia earlier said the issuance of the permit in question was “driven solely by the urgent need to address the critical water shortage that had severely affected the entire franchise area of the Metropolitan Cebu Water District (MCWD), which includes Cebu City and seven other local government units.”
“All decisions were undertaken in close collaboration with the affected local government units, as well as with the government agencies tasked to regulate environmental matters,” Garcia said.
