Barricades were set up around Caloocan City Hall late Friday afternoon to prevent officials of the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) from serving the Office of the Ombudsman’s six-month suspension order on Mayor Enrico Echiverri.
Supporters and employees of the city government fenced off the entire city hall, stopping operations at city hall by 4 p.m.
Around 200 persons held a program, delivering fiery speeches to defend their mayor who has been accused of failing to remit contributions of city hall employees amounting to P340 million to the Government Service Insurance System since 2006.
The mayor, who was reportedly inside his office, refused to face the media to give his comments.
Leuterio Nicolas, Caloocan public information chief, said Echiverri did not order putting up of the barricades.
“It’s a spontaneous act. The mayor did not order it,” he said. The spokesperson did not say if Echiverri would defy the suspension order.
Some Caloocan residents waiting outside city hall, however, were irked by the barricades, saying the employees have no right to shut down operations at city hall.
“We are paying your salaries. Give us a valid reason why you can’t process our real property taxes papers now. It’s only 4 p.m.,” a woman, who later identified herself as Cynthia Garcia, told a security guard behind the yellow fence.
Later in the afternoon, lawyer Domina Rances, head executive assistant of Interior Secretary Jesse Robredo, said they had rescheduled the serving of the suspension order on Monday.