ANGELES CITY – Beleaguered barangay officials of Pulung Maragul here had an early Christmas gift last Tuesday after the Regional Trial Court (RTC) came up with a decision in their favor.
Pulung Maragul Barangay Captain Joseph G. Dimapilis confirmed that the RTC has made a ruling allowing them to stay in their post and be able to run for re-election next month.
According to Dimapilis, during the term of former barangay captain Flay Cayanan where he was a barangay kagawad back then, they were charged before the Ombudsman and ordered to leave their post as barangay officials on June 23, 2009. But before the dismissal was to be implemented, Cayanan was shot dead.
Dimalipis took over the helm of the barangay and on September 29, 2009, the dismissal was implemented by then mayor Francis “Blueboy” Nepomuceno. The group of Dimapilis made an appeal to the Ombudsman and filed a motion for reconsideration in December 2009.
But on May 27 2010, the Ombudsman denied their motion for reconsideration but did not implement the said decision. Dimapilis said they were not given any notice from the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG), Offi ce of the Mayor or any government body ordering them to vacate their posts.
The members of the barangay council then fi led their candidacies during the 2010 barangay elections and won.
Dimapilis was elected and became the barangay captain. On August 16, 2013, the Ombudsman ordered the dismissal of the officials of the barangay based on the charges filed against them on June 23, 2009.
According to Dimapilis, Mayor Ed Pamintuan implemented the decision of the Ombudsman with officials of the DILG by going to the barangay hall with the order of the Ombudsman.
Dimapilis said he accepted the order because he respects the mayor’s decision. But Dimapilis said they filed a temporary restraining order (TRO) on the same day with the RTC.
A TRO was then approved on August 20 preventing the mayor from implementing the order of the Ombudsman in dismissing them from office.
According to the decision of the RTC, the complaints against the barangay offi cials became moot and academic under the Aguinaldo Doctrine because the dismissal was filed before they were re-elected as barangay officials.
The Aguinaldo Doctrine is based on a Supreme Court decision in the 1990s that absolves a public official from any administrative liability if he gets re-elected into office without prejudice to heftier criminal sanctions.
Dimapilis said the RTC decision proves that “the voice of the people is the voice if God.”
– With Michael Canlas, Charmane Cayanan, Yeo Intaek/SPCF-OJT
