THE suspension of a mayor of a small town in another province would on any other day not attract much attention in Cebu. However, when SunStar Cebu on May 16 reported that Siaton Mayor Cezanne Fritz Diaz had yet to serve a three-month suspension, the penalty imposed by the Ombudsman eight months ago after finding Diaz guilty of simple neglect of duty, it raised eyebrows. After all, only a few days earlier, Michael Rama, the mayor of the most populous city in the Visayas, had been preventively suspended. A little over a week after Ombudsman Samuel Martires signed the suspension order and only a few days after the shocking news hit Cebu City, Vice Mayor Raymond Garcia was instructed to assume as acting mayor. The difference in the enforcement of the two suspension orders, one a penalty, the other preventive, was striking, to say the least. Both Cebu City and Siaton, a municipality of about 83,000 in Negros Oriental, are located in Region 7, Central Visayas.
SIATON Mayor Cezzane Fritz Diaz, who received a three-month suspension order from the Office of the Ombudsman for simple neglect of duty, said he has appealed the ruling.
A SUSPENSION order against a municipal mayor and six other town officials in Siaton, Negros Oriental, has remained unimplemented for eight months since its issuance in September 2023.