CITY OF SAN FERNANDO – The Office of the Ombudsman has ordered the preventive suspension from office the local officialdom of Porac, Pampanga for gross neglect of duty in relation to the illegal operations of POGO (Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators) discovered in Barangay Sta. Cruz last June.
In an order signed by Ombudsman Samuel Martires on Oct. 7, suspended were Mayor Jaime “Jing” Capil, Vice Mayor Francis Laurence Tamayo, and councilors Rohner Buan, Rafael Canlapan, Adrian Carreon, Regin Clarete, Essel Joy David, Hilario Dimalanta, Michelle Santos, and John Nuevy Venzon, along with
Emerald Vital, OIC-Business Permit and Licensing Office.
The complaint filed by the Department of the Interior and Local Government represented by Undersecretary Juan Victor Llamas resulted from the investigation by the agency’s Task Force Porac on the “alleged involvement of particular local government officials…in the illegal POGO operation within the locality.”
The investigation came in the wake of the June 4, 2024 operation of the Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Commission at the Lucky South 99 POGO hub in Barangay Sta. Cruz where 207 workers of different nationalities were rescued.
The complaint cited that Mayor Capil’s “neglect of duty is very clear when he signed/issued through Vital’s recommendation, a business permit for Lucky South 99 until Dec. 31, 2023 despite the impending expiration of its PAGCOR license on Oct. 27, 2023.”
Arising therefrom, the complaint said Capil “also failed to appropriately act upon the revocation of Lucky South 99’s business permit when its PAGCOR license ultimately expired.”
“Mayor Capil also failed to act appropriately on the reports of criminal activities happening inside Lucky South 99’s premises,” the complaint also said. “Notably, several validation requests and letters from the PNP concerning illegal activities such as serious illegal detention, cyber-related criminal activities, prostitution were left unacted upon by Mayor Capil.”
“In sum, the inaction and willful non-compliance of their duties by Mayor Capil Vice Mayors Santos and Tamayo, Vital and the members of the Porac SB, taken together, paved the way for the continuous operation of Lucky South 99 despite the…(1) issuance of Mayor’s Business Permit for the years 2021, 2022, and 2023 despite lack of prior regulatory requirements; (2) expiration of its {AGCOR license; (3) BPLO’s certification that Lucky South 99 has no business permit for the year 2024; (4) lack of LONO (letter of no objection) to operate as POGO; and (5) letters of PNP reporting suspected criminal activities within Lucky South 99’s premises,” the complaint said.
“These unified actions/inactions of respondents …make them all liable for Gross Neglect of Duty,” it said, moving for their preventive suspension pursuant to applicable provisions of RA 6770 (The Ombudsman Act of 1989).
In its order the Ombudsman said: “Without delving into the merits of the case and without prejudging the same, these are sufficient grounds to hold that the evidence of guilt is strong at this time.”
It also cited the gravity of the charge of Gross Neglect of Duty “which if proven true, constitutes ground for the dismissal from the government service under the Revised Rules on Administrative Cases in the Civil Service.”
Finally, it said that “given the respondents’ power and authority, there is strong probability that they may influence witnesses or tamper with any evidence material to the case, and in order likewise to prevent any case of malfeasance and/or misfeasance, hence this Preventive Suspension.”
The officials are preventively suspended during the pendency of the case until its termination, but not to exceed the total of six months without pay.
The order is immediately executory, it added. Punto News Team
