PANIQUI, Tarlac – The court-installed mayor here was finally booted out from the municipal premises Monday night after an angry mob stormed the town hall in a violent con- Angry mob assaults Paniqui town hall, flushes out ‘mayor’ frontation with policemen.
Rommel David, who has been occupying the third floor of the municipal hall since October 28, was forced out of the building by an angry mob of about 3,000 armed with sticks and stones as several shots were fired by policemen. Glass panes were broken and debris littered the municipal premises as a result of the incident.
This developed after David refused to leave the town hall even after a ruling from the COMELEC on November 12 that all decisions and issuances by RTC Judge Agapito Laoagan Jr. relative to David’s election protest beginning December 2013 were without legal basis as the dismissal of the same election protest had become final and executory when David failed to make his appeal within five days after receipt of the court decision.
David initially said he will wait an order from the Department of Interior and Local Governments (DILG) before leaving his post which led to a stand-off that resulted in the stoppage of normal government operations here and non-payment of salaries of workers. However, even with the DILG order on Monday, David remained adamant.
DILG regional officers served the order Monday which said Vice Mayor Genevieve “Gin” Linsao is the “acting mayor” since Mayor Miguel "Dors” Rivilla is on a 60-day preventive suspension. But at around 8 pm Monday night as the nightly prayer for peace ended, some 100 young men led the assault on the town hall throwing rocks, stones and some pill boxes at the first and the third floors of the municipal hall while shots were fired by some 30 policemen providing security to David.
When the smoke had cleared, the glass panes of the windows and main door of the town hall were broken and spent shells from firearms of various calibers scattered inside the building. Minutes later, it was announced that David was finally gone. Councilor Ross Tayag said Supt. Salvador Destura, chief of police, will be held accountable for the violent behavior of his policemen who acted as bodyguards of David instead of maintaining the peace and order and diffusing the prevailing tension in the area.
Meanwhile, Acting Mayor Linsao came out on the public address system to announce that David had finally left the town hall along with some of the policemen, a news that was welcomed with cheers by the crowd. Later, Rivilla addressed the crowd and thanked the people “who never lost their faith in the struggle for truth, justice and democracy.”
“Democracy again triumphed because we, the people, fought for it, and this lasted for one long month” Rivilla said. Some observers believe it may be necessary for municipal officials to request the Bureau of Immigration for a hold departure order against David and his wife Evelyn, who is a municipal councilor of the this town, considering that they will soon face charges of illegal occupation of the vice mayor’s office as well as criminal, civil and administrative charges .
All policemen who joined David will be required to take paraffin tests to determine who among them fired their weapons, Tayag also said. But despite the violent incident, no injuries were reported.
