By CESAR JOLITO III
The former head of the Office of the Building Official (OBO) in the Bacolod City government has been slapped with a 90-day preventive suspension after being formally charged with multiple administrative offenses, including grave misconduct, serious dishonesty, violation of the Ease of Doing Business Act, and conduct prejudicial to the best interest of the service.
City Legal Office (CLO) head Atty. Karol Joseph Chiu confirmed that Mayor Greg Gasataya signed the suspension order against Engineer Isidro Sun, Jr. on August 11.
The suspension stemmed from a CLO investigation into the alleged irregular approval of an occupancy permit and reported solicitation of money in exchange for its release.
According to Chiu, Sun allegedly instructed a job order employee on June 30 to clear a business permit application in Barangay Mansilingan even without the required certificate of occupancy.
Official records further showed that the application bypassed standard procedures, including logbook entry and endorsement by the assigned engineer.
Investigators also found that Sun purportedly demanded P13,000, later reduced to P11,000, in exchange for the release of the occupancy permit.
Chiu explained that the preventive suspension was enforced under the 2017 Revised Rules on Administrative Cases in the Civil Service Code, given the gravity of the charges and the risk of evidence tampering or witness intimidation should Sun remain in office.
“Grave misconduct and serious dishonesty are punishable by dismissal from service, along with cancellation of eligibility, forfeiture of retirement benefits, and perpetual disqualification from re-employment in the government,” Chiu stressed.
The CLO also clarified that Sun’s suspension is without pay, but he may recover back wages if he is eventually cleared of the charges.
Sun has yet to issue an official statement but earlier maintained he is ready to face the complaint.
He claimed that OBO had previously allowed the repair of old houses without requiring building permits and argued that his actions were unfairly scrutinized compared to other engineers./CJ, WDJ