Five City Hall employees relieved over Antique trip

By Emme Rose Santiagudo

Five employees of the Iloilo City Hall were relieved from their posts following their visit to a private beach resort in Anini-y, Antique amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

Iloilo City Mayor Jerry Treñas confirmed in radio interviews that he ordered the relief of four employees of the Office of the City Zoning Administrator Office (OCZA) and one employee from the City Planning and Development Office (CPDO) due to ethical issues and conflict of interest over their Antique trip.

“Ginpangrelieve lang anay sila and ginpabalik sa ila mother unit. Ginapaimbestigar ko pa kay ginalantaw namon ang possible violations nila on the conflict of interest on ethical standards of a public official considering ang tag-iya sang private beach resort may mga transactions sa zoning office,” Treñas said in a radio interview on Friday.

Treñas received information that employees of the CPDO and OCZA went to Antique province amid the pandemic.

The mayor ordered the City Legal Office (CLO) and OCZA to investigate the incident.

Based on their preliminary investigation on Thursday, it was found out that personnel from the CPDO and OCZA went to Anini-y, Antique upon invitation from a certain Miriam Penoscas on June 13-14.

A group from the Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP) Region 6 also visited the same location but they went there on June 6 to 7.

BFP-6 is under fire for alleged violation of quarantine protocols where they purportedly threw a “despedida” or farewell party in Boracay Island in Malay, Aklan a week ago.

A BFP personnel who allegedly attended the party later tested positive for COVID-19.

Meanwhile, the mayor clarified that the relief of the City Hall employees is not related to the BFP incident.

“This has nothing to do with the trip of the BFP in Antique as well because they went there on separate days. This is more on the ethical standards of public officials. The resort was also not yet accredited to receive guests,” he said.

Treñas said he already ordered other personnel to be assigned to the OCZA following the relief of the employees.