OMBUDSMAN CONCHITA Carpio-Morales has ordered the three-month suspension of Panglao Mayor Leonila P. Montero for simple misconduct as well as the filing of charges for graft and unlawful appointment. The Ombudsman, in a statement released yesterday, said Ms. Montero was found to have appointed four losing candidates in the 2013 elections as consultants earning P25,000 per month. Records showed that Ms. Montero hired Noel Homarchuelos as municipal administrator/consultant for administrative services; Danilo Reyes as public information consultant; Apolinar Fudalan as Public Employment Service Office Coordinator/IT consultant; and Fernando Penales as infrastructure/engineering consultant. The consultants were hired on a job order basis to serve the mayor without executing any contract of service or issuance of any appointment paper duly reviewed and approved by the Sangguniang Bayan. Upon investigation, the Ombudsman said it found that the contracts and daily time records of the four consultants were not available. “(T)he Local Government Code provisions prohibit and disqualify Hormachuelos, Reyes, Fudalan and Penales within one year after such election to be appointed to any public office in the government,” reads part of the ruling.

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