Cebu City fire marshal faces raps

CEBU CITY Philippines - For his failure to account for more than P400,000 in debts to a gasoline station, the top leadership of the Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP) has recommended the filing of criminal and administrative charges against the city’s fire marshal Esmael Codilla. A fact-finding committee from the BFP central office recommended the filing of a criminal complaint of malversation of public funds and an administrative complaint of grave misconduct against Codilla. The decision was signed last May 19 and approved by the BFP Internal Affairs Services Chief Hyancinth Grageda and BFP officer-in-charge Chief Supt. Enrique Linsangan. Linsangan then issued an order formally charging Codilla with grave misconduct following the preliminary investigation. The investigation sprang from a complaint filed by BFP 7 Director Eleuterio Iturriaga, who was surprised to find that the Cebu City Fire Station owed a gas station P433,560.95 in gas bills. The amount represented fuel consumption from 2005 to February 2007. Fact-finding Codilla had requested the regional office to pay the debt. Iturriaga then requested the central office to create a fact-finding team to look into the amount. Codilla has to submit an answer in writing within five days upon receipt of the order, indicating whether he wants a formal investigation on the administrative complaint or not. “Any motion to dismiss, request for certification of bill of particulars, if it will cause a delay in the proceedings, shall not be entertained. Further, respondent (Codilla) is advised of his right to the assistance of a counsel, preferably of his own choice," Linsangan’s order stated. A BFP hearing officer will evaluate Codilla’s answer and if he fails to satisfy the hearing officer, a formal investigation of the administrative case will be launched. No comment Codilla, when sought for comment, declined to make a statement on the charges, saying he will just face the charges. However, in a story published in Sun.Star Cebu on March 24, 2007, Codilla explained that the P433, 000 earlier mentioned by his superior as an “unliquidated amount" was actually the money his office owed a gasoline station where the City Fire Department used to get fuel. He had said he received no allocation for the amount, and therefore had nothing to liquidate. In their decision, the fact-finding team said Codilla submitted “bund-les of annexes, which do not give light to the investigation." In his defense, Codilla reportedly submitted fire incident reports and cash invoices that did not reconcile the amount. The cash invoices reportedly reflected trucks that responded to alarms but the fire incident reports did not manifest that the same trucks responded to the fire incident. “After auditing the supporting figures he submitted to us, discrepancies had been found to exist and no evidence was given to substantially prove that the same were not committed. This office finds no evidence to support his explanation. Hence, we are left with nothing but to recommend the filing of criminal and administrative cases against Superintendent Codilla," the decision read. Initial findings The committee’s initial findings, in its report on April 24, 2007, stated that there were discrepancies in Codilla’s reports and that there were numerous instances of gasoline withdrawals even if there were no fires. He was also reportedly not able to fully explain his discrepancies in the fuel consumption reports and that results of a survey among BFP Cebu City units did not corroborate documents Codilla submitted. “Superintendent Codilla could not produce other important documents that would have proven that the consumption of fuel was justifiable and proper," the first report stated. In his defense, Codilla admitted that there were discrepancies but pointed out that a thorough examination of record and logbooks would reconcile the discrepancies. He said the discrepancies only resulted from “some mistakes in reproducing the facts found in the logbooks." Discrepancies While the committee pointed out that there were plenty of withdrawals in February though there were no fires, he explained that the big fire that hit Lincoln St. kept rekindling and lasted more than a week. He added that some of the discrepancies were overlooked by the gasoline station and that some original documents they required him to produce were all submitted to the head office of the BFP Logistics Division. From January to February 2007, his office consumed P163,800 worth of fuel. His office consumed P82,225 worth of fuel for the whole 2006 and P187,535 for all of 2005. - Sun.Star Cebu