Dingle Mayor Jessie Alecto tendered his resignation in a letter to Iloilo Governor Arthur Defensor, Sr., effective July 1. The letter, dated June 22, did not indicate any specific reason for the decision.

The letter was also forwarded to the Department of the Interior and Local Government and the municipality itself.

Alecto’s resignation paves the way for the vice mayor to take the reins.

Back in February, the Office of the Ombudsman charged Dingle Vice Mayor Rufino Palabrica III before the Sandiganbayan on four counts of violations to RA 3019, or the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act, in relation to government contracts signed while he was serving as mayor.

However, in May, the Sandiganbayan dismissed the charges on grounds of “inordinate delay.”

According to Palabrica, it has been nine years since the Ombudsman initially filed the complaint against him.

The case stemmed from a contract with Tri-B Marketing, a company owned by the municipal official’s wife, Theresa Palabrica, which was granted various concreting projects that valued around P5.36 million. However, the company was registered under a certain Eden G. Castañeda, previously identified as a resident of nearby San Enrique, who was allegedly being used as a “dummy.”/WDJ