BALANGA CITY- Business at the Bataan capitol here is back to normal Tuesday after the standoff that lasted for seven days was settled peacefully Monday afternoon.
Bishop Socrates Villegas of the Catholic diocese of Balanga made the announcement to the cheers of more than 2,000 people who showed support for embattled Gov. Enrique “Tet” Garcia who considered the Bataan capitol home for seven days.
The bishop with Senior Supt. Manuel Gaerlan and a ranking Region 3 police officer met with the governor and the vice-governor in a closed-door meeting that lasted for more than two hours at the Bulwagan ng Bayan where Garcia was holed in.
The prelate popularly known as Bishop Soc said Garcia and Vice-Gov. Serafin Roman agreed to return and preserve unity and peace in the capitol and so with their friendship. The two officials ran and won under the administration party in the 2007 elections.
Their friendship was, however, tarnished when the Ombudsman slapped a six-month suspension order on Garcia and three other capitol officials and Roman was designated as acting governor by the Department of the Interior and Local Government.
Garcia refused to turn the governorship to Roman arguing that his suspension by the Ombudsman was a political harassment. Tension was felt at the capitol when Roman requested the Bataan police office on Sunday to dismantle the barricade.
“Ibalik natin ang kaayusan at katahimikan sa kapitolyo ng Bataan upang malayang makapasok ang mga mahihirap at mga batang scholars,” Villegas said as he told Garcia’s supporters to fold the streamers, remove the barricades and clean the mess at the capitol grounds.
Garcia said he has elevated his petition for a Temporary Restraining Order to the Supreme Court after the delay in the action of the Court of Appeals where he first filed the petition last Monday.
He said that disbursement of funds will be affected for a few days. “Temporary setback lang naman ito at manumbalik ito sa sandaling makakuha na tayo ng TRO sa Korte Suprema,” the governor said.
He said that the effect on the disbursement of funds is not comparable to the peace and the return to normalcy in the operations at the Bataan capitol. “Ano na kung hindi makapag-disburse ng ilang araw samantalang manunumbalik naman ang kaayusan sa kapitolyo at mga serbisyo publiko ay muling maisasakatuparan,” Garcia said.
Offices at the capitol were closed for six days as a result of the standoff.
Some Garcia followers expressed doubt on the announced agreement of the governor and the vice-governor. Some women said it was not clear to them who will act as governor between Garcia and Roman.
But many said they consider Garcia as the only governor and no one else and Roman as the vice-governor.
Garcia said he would always be the friend of Roman in the past, today and the many days ahead. Roman for his part said the governor is the “father” of the province while he will remain as the “second father.”
They embraced after Bishop Soc sang the Lord’s Prayer to the applause of people crowding the Bulwagan ng Bayan ground.
