CITY OF MALOLOS?Provincial government employees on Wednesday dismantled steel railings and removed trucks that had barricaded all five major roads leading to the provincial capitol.

True to his word, incumbent Gov. Joselito Mendoza ordered employees to return to work, after a weekend standoff between his supporters and those of Roberto Pagdanganan Jr. that disrupted government transactions on Monday and Tuesday.

Mendoza gave the order on Tuesday as soon as he received word that the Supreme Court had allowed him to keep his post for at least seven more days, or until March 16.

The yellow steel railings and tents erected in front of the capitol grounds, which accommodated close to 3,000 Mendoza supporters, had disappeared.

Traffic flow

The obstructed roads that brought traffic jams had been cleared of two rows of vehicles and heavy engineering equipment.

The Supreme Court ended the standoff on Tuesday with a seven-day status quo order, until it decides whether to allow Pagdanganan to assume the gubernatorial post.

At a press conference in San Juan, Metro Manila, Pagdanganan urged the SC to decide on the case quickly.

But at a media forum in Club Filipino in Greenhills, the former governor said he was confident he would win the case.

?We?ve always believed in the rule of law,? Pagdanganan said.

He asked leaders of the Liberal Party, Mendoza?s party, to stay away from the issue because it was just between him and Mendoza.

The Commission on Elections declared Pagdanganan winner of the 2007 elections, and had served Mendoza last week a writ of execution that installed Pagdanganan to the post. This led to the standoff.

Weary supporters

Some of the people who manned the barricades, however, welcomed the Supreme Court order, claiming they had grown weary of the conflict.

Lobi Santos, 50, said she traveled to the capitol from Barangay Tartaro in San Miguel town, to show her support to Mendoza but that the effort was tiring.

?We are very fatigued. We had spent so little time at home. But we wanted to show support for Governor Jonjon. We would accept Obet [Pagdanganan?s] assumption to the post if the court says it?s proper),? he said.

Law enforcers were also polarized by the standoff.

On Monday night, the Malolos City engineering office tried to remove the dump trucks and backhoes positioned at the south entrance of the capitol compound, but mayors allied with Mendoza and policemen assigned to their towns, rushed to protect the barricades. Carmela Reyes-Estrope, Inquirer Central Luzon and DJ Yap in Manila