By Genalyn D. Kabiling
The filing of an administrative case against a second cousin of President Duterte showed there is no special treatment in his administration’s pursuit of good governance, a Palace official said.
Presidential spokesman Harry Roque said government officials who violate the law would be prosecuted regardless if they are relatives of the President.
Mayor Ramonito Duterte Durano III of Danao City, Cebu has been charged before the Sandiganbayan for failure to reinstate city workers and pay their back wages despite an order from the Civil Service Commission.
“(It’s) proof that the President doesn’t care even if you’re a relative, you have breached the law, you will be prosecuted and tried for your acts,” Roque said in a Palace news conference.
Durano has been accused of “wilfully, unlawfully, or criminally” neglecting to implement the CSC order directing the reinstatement of certain employees, who were revoked in 2013, to their former posts.
Durano has been charged for one count of violation of Section 67, Book 5 of the Administrative Code of 1987, in relation to Section 121 of the Revised Rules on Administrative Cases in the Civil Service.