Bohol mayoralty row: Cementing doorway politician’s new tactic

SOLID CLAIM National Bureau of Investigation agents examine the cemented doorway leading to the mayor’s office in Panglao, Bohol. —LEO UDTOHAN

PANGLAO, Bohol—Add cementing a doorway to the list of ways political rivals try to outdo each other.

On Oct. 24, Pedro Fuertes found the mayor’s office in Panglao town, Bohol province, sealed with hollow blocks held together by concrete in place of where used to be a door.

Fuertes, who took over from Leonila Paredes-Montero as mayor, had to hold office at the town hall’s lobby on Wednesday.

He held office for two days in a nipa hut in front of the town’s gym prior to that.

Fuertes sought help from the National Bureau of Investigation in Bohol to find the culprit.

But the sealing of the doorway of the mayor’s office came four days after Montero won a Court of Appeals decision ordering her reinstatement.

Owning a post

Montero now wanted to take back her seat as mayor.

The Department of the Interior and Local Government had installed Fuertes, the town’s vice mayor, as mayor after the Ombudsman ordered the three-month suspension of Montero for appointing four defeated candidates to positions in the municipal government less than a year after the elections.

The law imposes a one-year ban on appointing candidates, who lost elections, to government positions.

But before Montero could serve her three-month suspension, the Ombudsman upgraded the charge to grave from simple misconduct and ordered Montero’s dismissal from service on Jan. 19.

After three months, Montero insisted that she had already served her suspension.