BATUAN ‘ACTING MAYOR’ CHARGED AT OMBUDSMAN

CRIMINAL and administrative charges have been filed against Batuan, Masbate, acting mayor, Nelson Cambaya, at the Office of the Ombudsman on Thursday, June 18, 2020.

In the 10-page complaint signed by Batuan mayor, Charmax Jan Yuson, Cambaya was accused of grave abuse of authority, grave misconduct, oppression and conduct prejudicial to the (public) service, which all fall under Republic Act 3019 or the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act.

The complaint stemmed from Cambaya’s efforts to frustrate the return to office of Yuson, who was cleared of two criminal cases early this month by the Masbate Regional Trial Court.

Last year, Yuson and his father, Charlie Yuson III, were charged by the Philippine National Police’s Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (PNP-CIDG) for illegal possession of firearms, ammunition and explosives, the latter a non-bailable offense.

The Yusons insisted that “politics” was behind the raid as they accused the camp of PCSO board member, Sandra Cam, where Cambaya belongs, of being behind the incident to stop them from contesting the local election against Cam’s son, Marco Martin.

Despite the incident, Charmax, who was forced into hiding to prevent being killed, trounced Marco Martin at the polls.

On the other hand, Charlie, who also won the vice mayoralty post, was assassinated on October 9, 2019 in Manila, enabling Cambaya, as first councilor, to become Batuan acting mayor by operation of law.

However, Cambaya, Cam, Marco Martin and 4 of their supporters are now facing murder and frustrated murder charges at the Department of Justice (DOJ) for the killing of the elder Yuson based on the complaint filed by the National Bureau of Investigation.

In a decision last June 1, the Masbate RTC, thru Judge Arturo Clemente Revil, cleared Charmax of the cases filed against him.

The decision noted that the PNP, thru P/Major Dave Mahilum, resorted to ‘forum shopping’ in getting a search warrant that the CIDG used during the raid.

The court also set aside the warrant of arrest against Charmax and the ‘evidence’ presented by the police for being ‘fruits of the poisoned tree’ and reiterated its ruling on June 10, when it rejected the ‘motion for reconsideration’ (MR) filed by the prosecution.

Although already aware of the June 1 court decision, Cambaya, on June 6, issued a written instruction to the local police of Batuan to effect the arrest of Charmax, based on the warrant already invalidated by the court.

Cambaya also filed an administrative complaint at the ‘Sangguniang Panglalawigan’ of Masbate accusing Charmax of “abandonment of office” and “unauthorized absences” on June 11, a day after the court rejected the prosecution’s MR.

These actions, Charmax claimed, constitute repeated violations of RA 3019 by Cambaya.

Charmax pleaded with the Ombudsman to also suspend Cambaya to prevent him from using his present position as acting mayor to nullify his complaint and further prevent him from peacefully returning to office.

DILG removes Cambaya from post

Meanwhile, on the authority of Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) secretary, Eduardo M. Año, Cambaya was ordered to step down as Batuan acting mayor.

The directive was based on Yuson’s acquittal by the court, thus removing any legal impediment for his return to office as provided for under Section 46 of the Local Government Code.

DILG Masbate director, Ben Paul M. Naz, served the memorandum of Charmax’s assumption to Cambaya on Tuesday, June 23, 2020, accompanied by elements from the Philippine National Police.

After several tense of hours of negotiation, with the DILG threatening to physically yank Cambaya out of the Batuan municipal hall, he finally relented and left the premises past 5:00 pm.

(Updated: 12:04pm, June 24, 2020)