BALANGA City – Gov. Enrique “Tet” Garcia on Wednesday blamed the Department of the Interior and Local Government for swearing into office Vice-Gov. Serafin Roman as acting governor of Bataan.
The embattled governor maintained that there was no vacancy yet. He continuously claimed that the six-month suspension order issued by the Ombudsman was illegal and he would only step down from the capitol on Friday.
“Can the DILG not wait until Friday when I will voluntarily get out of the Bulwagan ng Bayan whether the Appellate court decides or not on my motion?” Garcia said.
He filed with the Court of Appeals last Monday a motion for certiorari, prohibition and mandamus for the immediate issuance of a temporary restraining order and writ of preliminary injunction.
The vice-governor who was sworn into office as acting governor said he decided to take his oath before DILG Region 3 Director Renato Brion on Tuesday so as not to be charged with “dereliction of duty.”
He called on his provincemates to stay calm and expressed sadness over the suspension order on Garcia. Roman said although his oath of office signaled his taking the post of acting governor effective Tuesday, he would wait for the tension at the capitol grounds to calm down.
“Hihintayin ko munang humupa ang damdamin ng maraming sumusuporta kay Gov. Tet na isang mabuti at magaling na gubernador bago ako gumanap ng tungkulin bilang acting governor sa aking tanggapan,” he said.
If reprimanded by the DILG why he was not assuming his post, Roman said he would tell the officials “sila ang humawi sa maraming taong nagbabarikada sa kapitolyo.” Many Garcia supporters with some dump trucks and vehicles continued to barricade all entrances/exit points to the Bataan capitol.
Roman said he would continue to be a friend of Garcia. He recalled that last Sunday the two of them with other officials were happy conversing. “Lahat halos ng ulam nga eh ibinibigay niya sa akin noong pananghalian kaya hindi ko ito malilimutan,” Roman said.
Roman and Garcia are political allies and ran under the administration Lakas Party in the 2007 elections.
