Bacolod Mayor Alfredo Abelardo Benitez announced on Monday, February 12, that he has formally charged two Office of the Building Inspector (OBO) employees for gross misconduct and ordered their preventive suspension for 60 days.
The City Legal Office will conduct the hearing of the formal charge where the two OBO employees can opt to be represented by a lawyer.
Benitez earlier said a businessman sent him a cellphone video of the alleged the extortion attempt by the two OBO employees during a Mayor’s Permit renewal inspection.
They allegedly demanded P15,000 to expedite OBO clearance and eventually agreed to bring the amount down to P5,000, he said.
But instead of paying, the businessman reported the matter to the mayor.
“We will be unrelenting in our drive against corruption…it will not be tolerated”, Benitez said.*