Ombudsman suspends Maguindanao mayor
BANGSAMORO NEWS UPDATES • 00:23 AM Thu Mar 8, 2018
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By:
June Santillan/contributor
Mayor Montasir Sabal of Talitay, Sultan Kudarat still hiding from the law.
DAVAO CITY -- A Maguindanao town mayor who remained
at large since 2016 after he was named by President Duterte as among the
country’s narco-politicians has been suspended by the Office of the Ombudsman
for one year.
In a press statement posted on its website, the
Ombudsman ordered the one-year suspension of Mayor Montasir Sabal of Talitay,
Maguindanao for his alleged non-declaration of possessions and business interests
in his Statement of Assets, Liabilities, and Net Worth (SALN) and failure to
perform official duties.
The Ombudsman said Mayor Sabal was found guilty of
gross neglect of duty when he failed to declare 14 firearms, four luxury
vehicles and his general merchandise, construction supplies, and accessories
businesses for years 2011 to 2015.
Sabal who vehemently denied involvement in illegal
drugs since he was elected to office in 2010 went into hiding after he was
named narco-politician by Duterte in August 2017.
He has not been heard since.
A raid by joint police and Army in Sabal’s home
yielded high powered guns and illegal drugs.
He was no around during the anti-drug operation.
The Ombudsman said the mayor, a former police
officer assigned in Manila before joining local politics, also failed to secure
approval from the provincial governor for his travels abroad from 2010 to 2016.
The mayor also failed to propose legislative
measures at the town’s council for Talitay’s anti-drug program as mandated by
the Department of the Interior and Local Government and Republic Act 9165
(Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002).
In their statements to the Ombudsman, Municipal
Budget Officer Charity Tampoco and Municipal Treasurer Norodin Samaon said the
town never received budget allocations for curtailing illegal drugs from 2010
to 2015 due to the lapses of Sabal.
Local government units should appropriate a
substantial portion of their respective annual budgets to assist in or enhance
the enforcement of the law, giving priority to preventive or educational
programs and the rehabilitation or treatment of drug dependents, the Ombudsman
said in its decision.
The anti-graft court cited DILG Circular No. 2015-63
which states that the failure to so appropriate shall be a ground for an
administrative case for dereliction of duty against concerned local officials
and the disapproval of the local annual budget on review.
The Ombudsman directed the DILG in the Autonomous
Region in Muslim Mindanao (DILG-ARMM) to implement the suspension order.