Municipal council recalls suspension, pushes for absentee member’s expulsion

By Dolly Yasa

BACOLOD City – The municipal council of La Castellana, Negros Occidental recalled the 15-day suspension imposed on Councilor Donato “Natnat” Dumaguit for his successive unexplained absences and instead will push for his expulsion.

In their regular session on Wednesday, November 29, 2023, presided over by acting Vice Mayor Ryan Canoy, the municipal council adopted the committee report of the Committee on Rules chaired by Councilor Leonardo Bacquian.

Bacquian said that aside from the unexplained absences of Dumaguit, they have noted other “questionable acts” of the latter.

He said that Dumaguit suddenly showed up at their regular session on Wednesday last week, November 22, 2023 but did not even explain himself.

Bacquian described Dumaguit’s actions as an insult to the Sangguniang Bayan as a body.

In their session yesterday, Dumaguit did not show up again.

Earlier, the municipal council of La Castellana suspended Dumaguit who was implicated in the P15-million PNP recruitment scam controversy.

Bacquian has said that the municipal council unanimously approved Dumaguit’s suspension for 15 days without remuneration.

The council also fined him P3,000 for racking up 13 unexplained absences in their regular and special sessions.

The absences began after some 40 complainants came out and accused Dumaguit of mulcting money from them in exchange for an assured slot in PNP that did not materialize.