Tension mounts at Lucena City Hall as ousted mayor insists on staying on

LUCENA CITY, Philippines—Tensions ran high at the Lucena City Hall Friday afternoon with two people asserting they were the rightful chief executive of the city.

Vice Mayor Roderick Alcala waited to take his oath as the city’s new mayor while the camp of unseated Mayor Barbara Ruby Talaga said they would not accept an order from the Department of Interior and Local Government for her to vacate the post.

The DILG order is based on an earlier ruling by the Commission on Elections that Barbara’s election in May 2010 was illegal and invalid.

At least 2,000 supporters of Talaga who have massed outside of the City Hall since Thursday refused to leave while Talaga remained holed up in her office.

Ramon Talaga Jr., the unseated mayor’s husband, told journalists that should their political foe Alcala insist he was now the local chief executive following the Comelec decision, the capital city of the province would have two mayors “because my wife will not vacate her post.”

As of early afternoon, representatives from the DILG and the Comelec had yet to serve on Barbara Talaga copies of the poll body’s resolution unseating her and ordering Alcala to assume the post of mayor, and DILG’s order for the mayor to vacate her office.

Ramon Talaga said they will not accept the copies of both orders as an act of open defiance.

A staffer from city mayor’s office was spotted preparing a steel chain ostensibly to be used to lock the main door to prevent the entry of the DILG and Comelec representatives.

The throngs of agitated supporters of the Talagas were still gathered in front of the City Hall building on the busy M. L. Tagarao road, causing traffic jams, as they vowed to serve as human barricades to prevent the entry of the order servers.