DILG recalls show cause order issued to Manila Mayor Isko Moreno

The Performance Audit conducted by the Department on Interior and Local Government (DILG) on the local chief executive of Metro Manila for the year 2018 was for the "previous mayor," according to a report on Unang Balita.

Interior and Local Government Secretary Eduardo Año said, in a statement given to GMA News, "That show cause order was intended for the past mayor since the performance audit was for year 2018 while Mayor Isko assumed only in June 2019."

"The show cause order has been recalled and Mayor Isko does not have to answer it," he added.

A show cause order to Moreno over the alleged failure of the city government to meet the standards of the Anti-Drug Abuse Council in 2018, a year before the mayor was elected to the post.

"Based on our assessment and verification in the 2018 Anti-Drug Abuse Council Performance Audit, you have failed to comply with the policy and program mandated to your office, specifically in meeting the standards and complying with the measures set forth by the National Drug Abuse Council Audit," read the order dated July 9.

The audit on the alleged failure of Manila on the anti-drug abuse policy was conducted in 2018.  Moreno was elected mayor in 2019.

In an August 6 memorandum, DILG Undersecretary for External and Legislative Affairs Ricojudge Janvier Echiverri said the show cause order issued to Moreno was an “inadvertent re-issuance.”

It was Echiverri who issued a show cause order dated July 9, 2021 asking Moreno to explain within 10 days why he should not be held administratively liable for failing to comply with Joint Memorandum Circular 2018-01 or the Implementing Guidelines on the Functionality and Effectiveness of Local Anti-Drug Abuse Councils.

"By virtue of this error and the guidance of policies and procedures of the Department, we are hereby withdrawing the document in issue," Echiverri said, referring to the latest show cause order against Moreno.

Moreno did not directly react to the order issued by the DILG on his Facebook post.

Former Manila mayor Joseph Estrada, who was the incumbent mayor in 2018, has not yet issued a statement. -- BAP/KBK, GMA News