Lani Cayetano charged before Sandiganbayan for ‘padlocked’ session hall

The Ombudsman has filed charges before the Sandiganbayan against Taguig Mayor Lani Cayetano for allegedly conspiring with another city official to prevent the city council from convening in August 2010.

In an information filed before the Sandiganbayan, the Ombudsman also charged then officer-in-charge City Administrator Jose Luis Montales for violation of Article 143 of the Revised Penal Code.

Bail was set at P12,000 for each of the respondents.

Ombudsman Conchita Carpio-Morales in August approved the filing of charges against Taguig City Mayor Laarni "Lani" Cayetano for the alleged premeditated and deliberate locking of the city government's session hall in 2010.
 
In a resolution recently signed by Morales, the Ombudsman said Cayetano and officer-in-charge City Administrator Jose Montales were found guilty of violating Article 143 of the Revised Penal Code (RPC) by allegedly ordering the city hall's personnel to padlock the session hall in time for the maiden assembly of the city council or Sangguniang Panglungsod (SP) in August 2010.
 
Article 143 of the RPC penalizes persons who, "by force or fraud, prevent or tend to prevent the meetings of local legislative bodies."
 
The Ombudsman noted that because of Cayetano and Montales' act, the SP was  forced to hold its maiden assembly and its next 14 sessions in the city hall's staircase as the smaller city auditorium cannot accommodate the number of SP members.
 
Morales junked respondents’ explanation that the move was part of the city’s reengineering and reorganizational plan, noting that the respondents failed to present any project plan nor a semblance of a project study "that would validate the necessity of effecting immediate change in the layout of the city hall offices."
 
"[The] documentary evidence, as well as respondents’ own admissions, belied their claim that any ‘reorganizational or reengineering plan’ with respect to city hall offices actually existed," the Ombudsman's resolution read.
 
Morales also gave weight on the testimonies of the SP members that the padlocking of the session hall was a premeditated "act of hostility" done with undue haste and without prior consultation nor prior notice to the affected party.
 
The Ombudsman resolution also noted that the respondents violated Section 45(b), Article I, Chapter III of the Local Government Code (LGC)  which states that the local chief executive's power to assign and allocate office spaces "must be exercised for the purpose of promoting efficient and economical governance...must be rational and precludes any arbitrariness or abuse.” —Elizabeth Marcelo/NB, GMA News