DIGOS CITY, Philippines —The Department of the Interior and Local Government has approved the assumption by Vice Mayor Elmer Javelona of the top executive post in the town of Matanao, Davao del Sur, following the arrest of Mayor Vicente Fernandez in connection with the killing of a journalist here in 2010.
Javelona, by virtue of succession, would act as mayor because Fernandez is now considered incapacitated to perform his duties and responsibilities as local chief executive, according to Aurora Corpuz, the DILG cluster head.
Fernandez had been ordered arrested, along with former governor Douglas Cagas and their alleged accomplices, Bado Sanchez and Ali Ordaneza, in the killing of journalist Nestor Bedolido.
The Matanao mayor is currently under hospital arrest for unspecified illness while Cagas has been remanded to the city district jail here, which is under the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology.
Ordaneza and Sanchez remain at large and are now the object of a manhunt, according to Senior Supt. Michael John Dubria, the police director of Davao del Sur.
“By law of succession, legally, Mayor Fernandez is physically incapacitated as he is now under hospital arrest for more than 10 days already. By operation of the law, the vice mayor will assume as acting mayor of the town, since we could not determine as to when he could get out of the hospital, how long will he stay in prison,” Corpuz told reporters on Monday.
She said Javelona would remain acting mayor until the court issues its verdict on Fernandez.
Fernandez was implicated by confessed gunman, Voltaire Mirafuentes, as the one who planned the Bedolido killing. He said it was Cagas who ordered him to kill the journalist while Ordaneza and Sanchez allegedly helped him carry out the order.
Mirafuentes is currently under the witness protection program of the Department of Justice.
The start of the trial of the Bedolido murder case remains uncertain following the inhibition of the judge who was to have presided over the trial. The Supreme Court still has to issue an order as to who should assume jurisdiction over the case.
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