Olongapo City mayor Atty. Rolan Paulino, Jr. (from Paulino’s Facebook page)
Olongapo City mayor Atty. Rolen Paulino Jr. is facing a complaint filed by the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) for his alleged “repeated” violation of the rules set by the Inter-Agency Task Force on the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases.
Paulino is currently facing numerous complaints of gross neglect of duty, grave misconduct, violation of Republic Act 11469 or the Bayanihan Act, violation of Republic Act 11332 or the mandatory reporting of notifiable diseases, and open disobedience under Article 231 of the Revised Penal Code.
The complaint was lodged at the Office of the Ombudsman by Interior Secretary Eduardo Año, according to DILG Undersecretary & spokesperson Jonathan Malaya.
Malaya added that they first issued a show cause order to Paulino in April for leading a mass gathering in the releasing of the Social Amelioration cards in the first tranche of the government cash aid program. Malaya highlighted that the Olongapo mayor was “admonished” and “warned” to follow the IATF guidelines back then.
Paulino allegedly committed another violation when he permitted motorcycle back-riding in his locality when he issued Executive Order No.54 series of 2020. Paulino temporarily suspended the implementation through EO 54-A after receiving a warning from the IATF.
Malaya believes that the EO permitting back-riding “clearly runs counter to the directives of the national government,” and the issuance of EO 54-A suspending its implementation “proves that he did not completely abandon” his previous order.
“The matter is now in the hands of the Office of the Ombudsman. The Olongapo mayor will explain his side there,” Malaya added.
Paulino responded to the allegations via a Facebook Live video on Wednesday afternoon.
“‘Yun pong policy na ginawa natin, kailangan pong may certification galing sa barangay tapos po ang pwede lang isabay ay yung kailangan kasama sa bahay yung pwede isakay,” Paulino said on the issue of motorcycle back-riding.
He added that only two people could ride per motorcycle.
Paulino said that the DILG called their attention once and that they immediately did not implement his executive order. He said that he respects the IATF and that he would face charges. (RJ Espartinez)