The Ombudsman has dismissed an administrative complaint for grave misconduct and criminal charges for violation of the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act filed against Vice Mayor Rhummyla Nicor Mangilimutan of La Castellana, Negros Occidental.
In its joint resolution, the Ombudsman stated that the complaints, filed by Elvin dela Fuente, who ran against Mangilimutan for vice mayor of La Castellana in May, lacked substantial evidence and probable cause.
Mangilimutan furnished a copy of the joint resolution to the media on Saturday, Oct. 18.
The complaint, filed on August 24, 2024, alleged that Maricel M. Madrigal had worked as a household help, and Jocelyn L. Magbanua as a laundry woman for Mangilimutan, while simultaneously being employed as job order workers of La Castellana’s Clean and Green Program.
Mangilimutan denied the allegations, asserting the complaints were used by dela Fuente to harass her personally and politically since he was her opponent for vice mayor. She maintained that the undated and unsworn written statements of the complainant’s witnesses, Maricel and Jocelyn, were concocted lies.
The Ombudsman’s ruling said “aside from the assertions of complainant and his witnesses, there is nothing in the records to show or even to infer that Maricel and Jocelyn were indeed household employees of the respondent.”
Instead, the ruling gave more weight to the respondent’s assertions and those of her witnesses that Maricel and Jocelyn rendered occasional massage and laundry services, respectively, to Mangilimutan during the weekends between 2018 to 2020.
They were immediately paid for these services out of her own pocket, the vice mayor said.
“Charges based on mere suspicion and speculation likewise cannot be given credence. When the complainant relies on mere conjectures and suspicions, and fails to substantiate his allegations, the complaint must be dismissed for lack of merit,” the ruling said.
“Simply put, the complaint has no leg to stand on,” it said.*