LUCENA CITY—The mayor of Tiaong, Quezon, strongly denied allegations that he abused his authority when he forcibly closed the operations of a flea market which led to his two-month suspension by the Ombudsman.
“I was just implementing the rule of law for the sake of my constituents,” said Mayor Roderick Umali in a phone interview.
Umali said he learned on Monday that Local Government Undersecretary Austere Panadero had directed the suspension of his pay for grave abuse of authority and oppression.
The case started with a complaint filed by one Expectacion Bautista-Baldeo, a flea market operator in Tiaong, who complained that Umali forcibly closed her business without due process.
Umali defended his action and said he issued the closure order in July last year, but was only able to enforce it in November after the lapse of a temporary restraining order secured by Baldeo.
The mayor said for the past seven years, Baldeo’s flea market has been operating without any permit from the local government.
“The stall owners just throw all their wastes into the nearby river without consideration for local ordinances on sanitation,” Umali said.