Aquino cousin’s camp ousts acting mayor
CITY OF SAN FERNANDO—A 27-day leadership standoff in Paniqui town in Tarlac province ended on Monday night when former Board Member Rommel David was forced out of the town hall by more than 2,000 supporters of Mayor Miguel Rivilla.
Rivilla’s supporters pelted the town hall’s third floor with rocks and recited prayers until David left the building.
The Central Luzon regional police said Rivilla’s supporters also hurled pillboxes and firecrackers at a team from the police’s civil disturbance management unit when they stormed the town hall.
But the police maintained maximum tolerance and no one was hurt, said Chief Supt. Raul Petrasanta, Central Luzon police director.
Petrasanta said David left the town hall between 7:30 and 8 p.m.
“We were able to convince him (David) to go down to avoid tension from the party of Mayor Rivilla,” he said.
David took over Rivilla’s seat on Oct. 29, based on a writ of execution issued by Regional Trial Court (RTC) Judge Agapito Laoagan, who ruled that he won the 2013 mayoral election.
On Nov. 12, the Commission on Elections (Comelec) First Division nullified David’s claim to the mayoral post.
David was holed up on the town hall’s third floor level since October and did not heed the order from the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) to step down and allow Vice Mayor Genevieve Linsao to serve as mayor in an acting capacity.
Rivilla, a cousin of President Benigno Aquino III, could not serve as mayor until Dec. 9. He was suspended for 60 days by the Tarlac provincial board while it hears a complaint filed by David’s wife, Councilor Evelyn David.
She questioned the mayor’s decision to pay the salaries of municipal workers serving under a job-order status.
Rivilla said the payment was legal because the item was approved in the reenacted budget.
Linsao said the town council had given her the authority to sign on behalf of the local government so employees could receive their salaries and the other half of their 13th month pay.
“It’s now quiet here. The people are still in front of the town hall but maybe they just want to make sure that [David] will not come back,” Linsao said.
“We’d like to assure our people that starting today, it’s a new start for Paniqui. Our town will rise again,” Linsao said.
Lawyer Miron Cunanan, DILG Central Luzon legal officer, said Linsao would serve as Paniqui mayor “until further orders.”
Cunanan said the DILG enforced its order and began negotiating with David at 1 p.m. But talks lasted until 5:30 p.m.
The DILG team had left when Rivilla’s supporters threw rocks in an attempt to flush out David’s group, police said.
Cunanan said David refused to heed the DILG order, saying he had filed a motion for reconsideration against the Comelec’s Nov. 12 resolution.
David did not take calls made or reply to text messages sent by the Inquirer on Tuesday.
The Comelec resolution concluded that a June 6, 2013, ruling on the poll dispute between David and Rivilla, which was made by a previous RTC judge, Serafin Cruz, had become final and executory.
Cruz’s order dismissed David’s election protest for being insufficient in form and content. David did not file an appeal within the mandated five-day period, Cruz’s order said.
By installing Linsao, Cunanan said, the DILG restored order at the town hall. The Comelec, he said, would have to resolve the latest petition from David.
Rivilla said he would pursue an election fraud complaint against David as a result of a manual recount that showed that more than 3,000 ballots cast for him had double-shaded votes, disenfranchising his voters. Tonette Orejas, Inquirer Central Luzon, with a report from Gabriel Cardinoza, Inquirer Northern Luzon
