DINALUPIHAN, Bataan – Supporters of the suspended village head of barangay Luakan here continued to barricade the barangay hall on the 22nd day Monday and vowed to fight any dispersal move.
They said they would not permit 1st Kagawad Anna Liza Justo holds office in the barangay hall.
“Hindi kami papaya na uupoka Liza,” a big streamer at the Luakan barangay hall reads. “Hindi kami alis kahit anong mangyari dahil walang kasalanan ang aming kapitan na si Alfredo Santos, Jr.,” a lady protesters said.
Arnel Quimado, one of the barricaders, said they would let Justo holds office at the basketball court or anywhere but not inside the barangay hall.
Justo claimed that official transactions in the village have been delayed if not paralyzed.
“Pero dadaanin pa rin naming sa maayos na proseso dahil gusto naming walang masaktan,” she said in the company of four other village kagawad or councilmen.
She signed request for barangay clearance and other papers on top of a steel chair squatting in a vacant garage.
Justo also said that Barangay Captain Santos was suspended for three months effective December 12 last year, and “by operation of law as first councilman, I am obliged to take over.”
Yvette Sorio, municipal chief of the Department of Interior and Local Government, said they have requested the protesters to transfer to the basketball court quadrangle adjacent to the barangay hall .
“Pero, ayaw nila kaya mag-uusap kami uli ng pulisya at provincial head ng DILG at baka mapakiusapan pa ang mga taong peaceful turn-over,” she said.
Dinalupihan Vice-Mayor Leonardo Cruz said he saw politics working in the suspension of Kap Alfredo Santos, Jr. by majority members of the Sangguniang Bayan.
“Nagulat ako sa suspension ni kap dahil hindi malinaw na napatunayan ang pagkakasala niya at sana makakuha siya ng katarungan sa pamamagitan ng hiling niyang Temporary Restraining Order sa korte,” Cruz said.
The Dinalupihan SB slapped a three-month suspension order effective December 12, 2011 on Santos after a villager from another barangay in Dinalupihan filed an Administrative case of Abuse of Authority and Misconduct.
Complainant claimed that the barangay captain accused him of being involved in the loss of seven pregnant goats owned by Santos’ uncle. But the barangay head countered that he merely asked the complainant if he knew of someone who might have committed the theft.
