Bacolod Mayor Alfredo Abelardo Benitez has dismissed the head of the City Department of Public Services (DPS) from the service for nine counts of grave misconduct and gross neglect of duty, City Legal Officer Romeo Carlos Ting Jr. said Tuesday, May 2.
Ramel Palalon was dismissed for availing of gasoline from the city government nine times for the alleged use of a city government bulldozer that was actually broken, Ting said.
Palalon later said the gasoline was used for a bulldozer of IPM-Construction and Development Corp., the garbage hauler of Bacolod City, for road clearing.
However, IPM denied using city government gasoline for its bulldozer, Ting said.
Palalon’ dismissal, which was immediately executory effective April 27, may be appealed before the Civil Service Commission, he said.
DPS driver Darwin Cardones was found guilty for simple misconduct and suspended for six months for signing the trip tickets of the bulldozer that he did not use, Ting said.
The driver was made to sign the trip tickets by his boss, Ting added.
Cardones filed a motion for reconsideration for a lesser penalty so his suspension has not been enforced yet, he said.
Benitez named Ma. Fe Trespuentes as the DPS officer-in-charge in November last year after Palalon was preventively suspended.*