TACLOBAN CITY – The Office of the Ombudsman recommended the filing of a graft case in court against Tanauan, Leyte Mayor Gina Merilo for hiring two of her running mates who lost in the 9 May 2022 elections, within the one-year prohibition for losing candidates.

In an eight-page decision, Ombudsman Graft Investigation and Prosecution Officer Jose Melandro Garcia found probable cause in the criminal complaint filed against Merilo.

Ombudsman Samuel Martires approved the decision on 30 September 2024.

In her complaint, Mildred Lopez said Merilo hired her losing running mate for vice mayor, Quintin Octa, Jr., on 1 July 2022 for a job order position as Project Engineer, despite Octa being a dentist by profession.

Lopez said Merilo also hired Reynalda Almaden, who ran as a councilor, for the position of mobile nurse.

Lopez insisted that Merilo was aware that Octa will be performing function of a municipal administrator, which is a plantilla position, and not the task of a project engineer.

Likewise, she said, Almaden was hired for a position pertaining to public health which is also a plantilla position.

In her counter-affidavit submitted to the Ombudsman, Merilo dismissed the complaint as politically-motivated concocted by her political enemies to discredit her administration.

She said that as a first-termer Mayor, she was not aware of the hiring process and that she trusted the Human Resource, Budget,f and Accounting offices which she consulted before hiring the two individuals.

Merilo added that the municipality of Tanauan did not suffer undue injury since the two returned the monetary benefits they received.

In his decision, however, Garcia said the hiring of Octa and Almaden on a job order basis to circumvent the ban has caused injury to the municipality in the form of “unwarranted benefits, advantage and preference given to disqualified person.”