SASMUAN, Pampanga- Less than a year before the next elections, this town is getting a new mayor and vice mayor.
The Commission on Elections (Comelec) en banc has issued its final order for this town’s Mayor Nardo Velasco “to immediately and peacefully vacate the office of the mayor, Municipality of Sasmuan, Pampanga.”
“We declare that there is no more legal impediment or obstacle to the implementation (of an earlier decision for the ouster of Velasco),” the poll body said in its four-page decision signed by Chairman Jose Melo and Commissioners Rene Sarmiento, Nicodemo Ferrer, Lucenito Tagle, Armando Velasco, and Elias Eusoph.
The verdict, dated last Sept. 8, also ordered Vice Mayor Fernando Baltazar Jr. to assume the mayoral post and senior municipal councilor Anastacio Agapito Jr. to assume the post of vice mayor, as it cited this succession as in accord with the Local Government Code.
The Comelec ordered the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) and the provincial and municipal police to “immediately” enforce the order. As of yesterday, the order had yet to be implemented amid heavy flooding in all parts of this town arising from the recent rains.
The poll body’s decision noted that the ouster of Velasco arose from the case filed by defeated mayoral candidate Mozart Panlaqui who filed a complaint, even before the May 2007 polls, that Velasco was not qualified to run for mayor as he lacked the residency requirement in the town where he was running.
Velasco had resided in the US and returned to this town only a few months before the elections, contrary to the requirement of the law for one year residency of a candidate in a locality.
Despite the initial complaint, Velasco, who was candidate of the Nationalist People’s Coalition (NPC), won and was proclaimed amid protests from his only rival Panlaqui who was candidate of the Kabalikat ng Mamamayang Pilipino (Kampi). Panlaqui’s running mate Baltazar, however, won as vice mayor.
This town is within Pampanga’s second district which includes nearby Lubao where Pres. Arroyo is a registered voter. The President was in nearby Guagua town yesterday to meet with provincial disaster coordinating council officials amid floods in the town and other parts of Pampanga.
The Comelec’s verdict recalled that in July 2007, its second division had already issued a resolution affirming an earlier decision of the local Board of Election Inspectors declaring Velasco as lacking the qualifications for a mayoral candidate and declaring that “thus his proclamation is deemed null and void.”
On Oct. 15, 2007, the Comelec en banc junked Velasco’s appeal for reconsideration of the decision of the second division, but his ouster was prevented by his appeal to the Supreme Court.
Earlier this year, the Supreme Court eventually dismissed Velasco’s appeal for lack of merit and lifted its status quo order that prevented his ouster from mayoral post.
But because of the failure of government agencies to enforce the ouster of Velasco, Panlaqui filed last Aug. 5 before the Comelec en banc a petition “to direct Velasco to immediately vacate the position of mayor” and “to cease and desist from performing the functions of the said office/position.”
In its order last Sept. 8, the Comelec said “We declare that there is no more legal impediment or obstacle to the implementation of the assailed Comelec (second division) resolution.”
Panlaqui told Punto, however, that he also filed before the Supreme Court only last August a petition for him to assume the post as mayor, as the cancellation of the candidacy of Velasco made him the only mayoral candidate in the last local elections here.
A local critic of Pres. Arroyo, who asked not to be named, said that the case of Velasco was finally acted upon by the Comelec “if only to remove the impression that it is paying unusually special attention to the election protest filed by provincial board member Lilia Pineda against Gov. Eddie Panlilio”.
“I really don’t think that without the Pineda case, the mayoralty conflict here would have been acted upon by the Comelec since both the mayoral candidates are pro-Arroyo,” he said, noting that Panlilio has been critical of the Arroyo administration.
The Comelec is now rushing with the recount of gubernatorial votes cast in 2007 in Pampanga upon the petition of Pineda, a close ally of the President.
The Commission on Elections (Comelec) en banc has issued its final order for this town’s Mayor Nardo Velasco “to immediately and peacefully vacate the office of the mayor, Municipality of Sasmuan, Pampanga.”
“We declare that there is no more legal impediment or obstacle to the implementation (of an earlier decision for the ouster of Velasco),” the poll body said in its four-page decision signed by Chairman Jose Melo and Commissioners Rene Sarmiento, Nicodemo Ferrer, Lucenito Tagle, Armando Velasco, and Elias Eusoph.
The verdict, dated last Sept. 8, also ordered Vice Mayor Fernando Baltazar Jr. to assume the mayoral post and senior municipal councilor Anastacio Agapito Jr. to assume the post of vice mayor, as it cited this succession as in accord with the Local Government Code.
The Comelec ordered the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) and the provincial and municipal police to “immediately” enforce the order. As of yesterday, the order had yet to be implemented amid heavy flooding in all parts of this town arising from the recent rains.
The poll body’s decision noted that the ouster of Velasco arose from the case filed by defeated mayoral candidate Mozart Panlaqui who filed a complaint, even before the May 2007 polls, that Velasco was not qualified to run for mayor as he lacked the residency requirement in the town where he was running.
Velasco had resided in the US and returned to this town only a few months before the elections, contrary to the requirement of the law for one year residency of a candidate in a locality.
Despite the initial complaint, Velasco, who was candidate of the Nationalist People’s Coalition (NPC), won and was proclaimed amid protests from his only rival Panlaqui who was candidate of the Kabalikat ng Mamamayang Pilipino (Kampi). Panlaqui’s running mate Baltazar, however, won as vice mayor.
This town is within Pampanga’s second district which includes nearby Lubao where Pres. Arroyo is a registered voter. The President was in nearby Guagua town yesterday to meet with provincial disaster coordinating council officials amid floods in the town and other parts of Pampanga.
The Comelec’s verdict recalled that in July 2007, its second division had already issued a resolution affirming an earlier decision of the local Board of Election Inspectors declaring Velasco as lacking the qualifications for a mayoral candidate and declaring that “thus his proclamation is deemed null and void.”
On Oct. 15, 2007, the Comelec en banc junked Velasco’s appeal for reconsideration of the decision of the second division, but his ouster was prevented by his appeal to the Supreme Court.
Earlier this year, the Supreme Court eventually dismissed Velasco’s appeal for lack of merit and lifted its status quo order that prevented his ouster from mayoral post.
But because of the failure of government agencies to enforce the ouster of Velasco, Panlaqui filed last Aug. 5 before the Comelec en banc a petition “to direct Velasco to immediately vacate the position of mayor” and “to cease and desist from performing the functions of the said office/position.”
In its order last Sept. 8, the Comelec said “We declare that there is no more legal impediment or obstacle to the implementation of the assailed Comelec (second division) resolution.”
Panlaqui told Punto, however, that he also filed before the Supreme Court only last August a petition for him to assume the post as mayor, as the cancellation of the candidacy of Velasco made him the only mayoral candidate in the last local elections here.
A local critic of Pres. Arroyo, who asked not to be named, said that the case of Velasco was finally acted upon by the Comelec “if only to remove the impression that it is paying unusually special attention to the election protest filed by provincial board member Lilia Pineda against Gov. Eddie Panlilio”.
“I really don’t think that without the Pineda case, the mayoralty conflict here would have been acted upon by the Comelec since both the mayoral candidates are pro-Arroyo,” he said, noting that Panlilio has been critical of the Arroyo administration.
The Comelec is now rushing with the recount of gubernatorial votes cast in 2007 in Pampanga upon the petition of Pineda, a close ally of the President.
