Comelec Manila to hear recall petition next week

The feud of the Durano brothers in Danao City will be brought to another level as they face each other next Thursday before the Commission on Elections (Comelec) en banc in Manila.

A notice of hearing was sent last week to the camps of Mayor Ramon “Boy” Durano Jr. and Vice Mayor Ramon “Nito” Durano III for them to attend the scheduled hearing on Nov. 3 at the Comelec Session Hall in Manila.

In a press conference, Danao City Vice Mayor Ramon “Nito” Durano III said they are hoping that the motion for reconsideration filed by Mayor Boy would be denied.

Mayor Boy filed a motion for reconsideration in August after Comelec en banc ruled that the recall petition the vice mayor and his council filed against the mayor is sufficient.

Vice Mayor Nito in return filed an opposition to the mayor’s motion for reconsideration last Sept. 5 and this will be heard by the Comelec on Thursday.

In July this year, the vice mayor and his council filed a recall petition against the mayor.

A few weeks later, Mayor Boy also filed a recall petition against Nito and his council.

But the Comelec still has to go through several steps before conducting the actual recall against the mayor.

Signatures of the petition have to be verified, the petition needs to be published in local and national newspapers once a week for three straight weeks, and posted in public places.

This is to give time to interested parties to examine the petition and check the authenticity of signatures.

City Councilor John Cane said they hope a recall election would happen by December of this year.

They are confident that funding won’t be a problem. They said P1 million is enough to hold the recall elections.

Nito said dislodging his brother as the mayor will be the “answer to problems” that Danao City is facing like the slashing of the budget for the city council next year.

Cane said they proposed a P75-million budget for 2012 but it was cut to P15.2 million. But in a separate interview, Mayor Boy explained he had to cut the budget for the council as the city has insufficient funds.

Mayor Boy earlier submitted a total proposed budget of P435 million.