DILG asked to settle mayoral row in Tarlac

CITY OF SAN FERNANDO—Who is the mayor of Paniqui town, Tarlac province?

The Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) in Central Luzon has asked its national office to answer this question and determine whether Nationalist People’s Coalition candidate Rommel David has become the legitimate mayor based on a September court ruling that unseated Mayor Miguel Rivilla, said lawyer Miron Cunanan, DILG regional legal officer.

Rivilla, a relative of President Aquino, had challenged the court ruling in the Commission on Elections, which issued a 60-day temporary restraining order.

But the order lapsed on Oct. 27, allowing David to assume the mayoral post and occupy the third floor of the town hall. Rivilla, however, continues to serve as mayor, having occupied the town hall’s second floor.

On Tuesday at the Clark Freeport, Interior Secretary Mar Roxas declined to comment on the Paniqui standoff.

Rivilla had defeated David in the 2013 elections. David filed a protest, which a Paniqui regional trial court judge dismissed. The same court dismissed a motion for reconsideration filed by David.

David, however, filed a second motion for reconsideration and an assisting judge invalidated 3,684 of Rivilla’s votes, which put the integrity of the precinct count optical scan machines in question, Rivilla said.

David could not be reached for comment on Thursday afternoon.

Cunanan said the RTC’s decision to proclaim David was not coordinated with the DILG.

David took his oath before a Tarlac City judge weeks after the Tarlac provincial board imposed a 60-day preventive suspension on Rivilla over his order to release the delayed salaries of contractual workers in the town.

The case was filed by David’s wife, a Paniqui councilor.

Cunanan said the feud might have disrupted local government operations.

On Thursday, electricity was cut off at the town hall, he said.

On the same day, Rivilla went out of the town hall to attend the last day of the wake of his mother, Lourdes Cojuangco Rivilla, an aunt of President Aquino, who died on Oct. 27.

Despite tension between the contesting parties and their supporters, no violent incident has taken place there.

But Chief Supt. Raul Petrasanta, Central Luzon regional police director, said the Paniqui chief of police had been relieved to ensure impartiality in handling the conflict.

Policemen from the regional public safety command have been sent to Paniqui to maintain peace and order around the town hall, Petrasanta said. Tonette Orejas, Inquirer Central Luzon