Graft raps filed vs. Borbon mayor over alleged illegal release of bonuses, hiring

The Office of the Ombudsman filed two separate graft cases against Borbon, Cebu Vice Mayor Noel Dotillos, over the unauthorized release of a municipal anniversary bonus in 2019 and hiring his wife as Municipal Health Officer in 2024 when he was still municipal mayor.

The Ombudsman, in a statement, said the cases were filed before the Cebu Regional Trial Court in Bogo City after the anti-corruption body denied Dotillos and Municipal Budget Officer Teresita Cabahug’s motion for reconsideration.

Ombudsman prosecutors alleged that Dotillos granted a total of P570,000 anniversary bonus to municipal employees in 2019 without the approval of the city council.

“With no appropriation to support the subject disbursement, the Municipality of Borbon suffered undue injury in the amount of P570,000 as this sum was never supposed to be disbursed as an anniversary bonus. Simply put, the municipal government had no budget for an anniversary bonus, but respondents-movants authorized its grant anyway,” the Ombudsman said.

Dotillos and Cabahug argued that the absence of an appropriation for the anniversary bonus was merely a procedural lapse and did not automatically amount to graft.

Likewise, Dotillos maintained that the bonus was approved and processed in good faith.

In the second graft case, the Ombudsman said Dotillos did not seek prior Sangguniang Bayan authorization when he entered into a contract of service with his wife, retired Municipal Health Officer Dr. Corazon Dotillos, in 2024.

This hiring, the Ombudsman said, enabled retired Municipal Health Officer Dr. Dotillos, to continue serving and receiving remuneration under the arrangement.

Dr. Dotillos retired in 2021 and was granted two six-month extensions by the Civil Service Commission.

“Dotillos exhibited manifest partiality or evident bad faith in entering into a COS with his wife. The claim that there are no physicians available or willing to work as MHO in Borbon, Cebu, is self-serving. There is no proof that the plantilla item was ever published after respondent Corazon's retirement, and any effort was made to secure a permanent appointment for such a position,” the Ombudsman said.

The Ombudsman recommended bail of P90,000 per charge. —LDF, GMA News