Unseated mayor continues holding office

NORZAGARAY, Bulacan—Disqualified Mayor Alfredo Germar on Saturday said he would continue to hold office while his lawyers addressed a Commission on Elections (Comelec) ruling that unseated him for vote-buying.

The poll body’s first division disqualified Germar and Councilor Rogelio Santos for their supposed role in a vote-buying attempt foiled by the homeowners’ association of North Hills Village in Barangay Tigbe here on May 11, two days before the midterm elections.

The residents discovered four boxes filled with bundles of small brown envelopes that contained sample ballots and P500 bills totaling P692,500.

The ballots bore the names, “Alfredo Germar of the Liberal Party (LP),” “Roberto Esquivel (Germar’s running mate)” and “Rogelio Santos.”

The boxes of cash were turned over to Comelec Chair Sixto Brillantes Jr. on May 13 when former Mayor Feliciano Legaspi, the man Germar had defeated, sued to disqualify Germar for alleged poll violations.

The Comelec also directed Vice Mayor Alfredo Legaspi, the complainant’s son, to assume Germar’s post.

The Comelec decision, which was made public on Oct. 3, had not disrupted operations at the town government. But Germar told the Inquirer by telephone that he had yet to receive a copy of his disqualification order.

People close to him said he was filing a motion for reconsideration of the decision and may elevate the case to the Comelec en banc.

Germar declined to discuss the decision upon the advice of his lawyers.

Asked how he would proceed if the Comelec affirmed its decision, Germar said: “The law is supreme and nothing is above the law.”

Supporters of Germar and Vice Mayor Legaspi had been trying to defuse the tension. Both belong to the LP.

Former Mayor Legaspi, in a telephone interview, said his family would allow the matter to play out in the Comelec. He said that based on the succession law, his son would assume the mayoral post.

The elder Legaspi, who lost his third term bid to Germar by 964 votes, filed the disqualification cases against Germar, Esquivel and Santos a day after the elections.

Legaspi said this was the first case of vote-buying of such magnitude in Norzagaray’s political history.

Supt. Dale Soliba, who was police chief at the time of the elections, was also sued for graft in the Office of the Ombudsman for allegedly covering up the vote-buying incident.

Helenita Viola, wife of retired Norzagaray police chief Supt. Bruno Viola Jr. had accused Soliba of attempting to take away the cash when he supposedly broke into the office of the homeowners’ association.

Soliba had denied the charge but he was relieved in June by Senior Supt. Joel Orduña, Bulacan police director.