Ex-Leyte mayor suspended for tolerating violent bodyguard

A former Leyte mayor was suspended by the Ombudsman on Monday for not doing anything to prevent his bodyguard from assaulting the officer-in-charge of the Provincial Environment and Natural Resources Office.

Former mayor Bernard Jonathan Remandaban of Tabango, Leyte, was ordered suspended for a period of six months and one day after he was found guilty of Conduct Prejudicial to the Best Interest of the Service.

However, Remandaban is no longer the mayor of Tabango but his wife, Ma. Corazon, who won in the 2010 elections and was re-elected in 2013. Mr. Remandaman served as mayor for three terms, or from 2000 to 2009.

The suspension was ordered in connection with a May 2007 incident where Remandaban’s close-in security assaulted and threatened Hernani Delos Reyes, Jr., OIC of the Provincial Environment and Natural Resources Office.

According to the Ombudsman, Remandaban was present when the incident happened.

“By tolerating the assault of complainant by his close-in security, respondent lowered the bar of public service and thus rendered him administratively liable,” Ombudsman Conchita Carpio Morales said.

She added that Remandaban's act  “renders him liable for conduct prejudicial to the best interest of the service.”

Remandaban’s security allegedly assaulted Delos Reyes when the latter refused to sign the Memorandum of Agreement concerning a reclamation project in Tabango.

A medico-legal report issued by the Eastern Visayas Regional Medical Center corroborated injuries suffered by Delos Reyes, while affidavits of two PENRO employees affirming the assault incident were also submitted.

The Department of the Interior and Local Government is directed to implement the suspension order. —Patricia Denise Chiu/KBK, GMA News