Three Front Liners Sue Tabuk City Vice Mayor To Ombudsman For Abuse, Breaching Quarantine Rules

August 2, 2020 JUST IN

BAGUIO CITY(August 2, 2020) –  Three front liners formally sued  Tabuk City Vice Mayor Bernard Glenn Dao-as before the Office of the Ombudsman for alleged abuse of authority resulting to grave misconduct, conduct unbecoming of a public official, discrimination of health care workers, grave coercion and violation of the pertinent provisions of Republic Act (RA) 11469 or the Bayanihan to Heal as One Act of 2020.
In an 11-page joint affidavit, Roxanne Dalignoc Eng-op, a job order health worker; Robert Purugganan Bayangan, a casual employee of the City Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office (CDRRMO) and Rogelio Dulipas Calsiyao, residents of Casigayan, Bulo and Cugawe, Cudal, Tabuk City claimed that Dao-oas defied the health protocols that implemented at a control point in barangay Talaca (Tabuk City) after he passed through with another passenger, personnel of the Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP) from Bulacan who did not have travel documents.
The trio claimed before the Ombudsman that on June 5, at around 3AM, a white Fortuner with plate number AAG-8409 arrived at the control point where the driver got off the same and showed them their travel pass and health declaration forms.
When Eng-op asked the driver how many persons were inside the vehicle, latter answered that there were 4 of them, prompting her to request for the travel pass of the 4^th passenger as only 3 persons were indicated in the travel pass.

She was told that the 4^th passenger is a BFP personnel from Bulacan and an authorized person outside residence (APOR).  She then politely requested for the BFP personnel’s travel documents and had to go to triaging process at the Agbannawag holding area. 
As an established procedure, Eng-op also requested the occupants to dis-embark to go through the checkpoint protocol and explained to Vice Mayor Dao-as, who was then wearing a mask, the protocol for those coming from red areas like Bulacan, but the latter removed his mask to show him his face before placing it back.
Dao-as reportedly started to get angry when Eng-op refused to make an exemption for the BFP personnel on board, though Eng-op insisted that they drop off the BFP personnel in Agbannawag for triaging so that the city’s medical personnel can assist her and for her to undergo quarantine.
Bayangan claimed before the Ombudsman that he saw the conversation between his colleague at the control point and Dao-as attesting she was never rude in explaining the protocols.
While being escorted to the Agbannawag triage, the trio claimed that the Vice Mayor’s vehicle overtook Bayangan’s vehicle and sped off and did not pass through the triage area as required.
After several hours, the BFP personnel was brought to the Agbannawag triage center when her relatives was contacted by the operations center.
On June 9, 2020, Vice Mayor Dao-as posted on his official facebook page
about how he was allegedly treated by the front liners at the Talaca control point pointing out abuses that had been committed against him and his companions.
Later, the trio learned that the BFP personnel was identified as Kiezel Olive Dao-as, a relative of the vice mayor whom he reportedly fetched from Bulacan on the way to Tabuk.
Eng-op claimed she never forced the vice mayor and his companions to undress, as alleged in the post of Dao-as, while at the checkpoint, but what she requested from them is if they had extra shirts to use based on the established checkpoint rules for people to change their clothes in a secluded place in the area.
The trio claimed the vice mayor’s alibi that it was already 3AM and he was very tired cannot hold water as what is being enforced are the established checkpoint protocols and that what was only required from them was to drop off the BFP personnel to the Agbannawag triage area because she did not have the required travel pass and health declaration.
The trio added that the BFP personnel on board the vice mayor’s vehicle did not have a mission order or work order and that she was on vacation at that time, thus, she has to go to the protocol of submitting herself for testing and undergo quarantine at the barangay holding area.
Though Vice Mayor Dao-as claimed he has yet to receive a subpoena on his case and said he will respond when he sees the complaint.  He stood firm on his post at social media on June 9, that he and his companions were unfairly treated by the trio and they were rude.
Artemio A. Dumlao