Beleaguered town vice mayor seeks PGMA's help on fight vs mayor, vice guv
Iloilo -- After weeks of being on the receiving end of attacks hurled through the media, the vice mayor of a Guimaras town finally counters with an offensive straight to the Office of the President in Malacaņang. This, alongside yet another offensive earlier filed before the Office of the Ombudsman in the Visayas. (See related story)
In a Petition/Complaint, Buenavista Vice Mayor Herald Gregg Gagatam moved through counsel, to avail of administrative remedies before President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo saying how in the first place, the administrative complaint filed against him by his town mayor before the Guimaras Sanggunian Panlalawigan (SP) is in the wrong hands.
The beleaguered Vice Mayor has been charged before the Guimaras SP for misconduct in office, gross negligence or dereliction of duty" courtesy of what his attackers said were his absences in the municipal council's regular sessions. Yet wrong venue to sue my client, noted Ilonggo lawyer Cornelio Panes asserted as he pointed out the provisions of Republic Act 760 which governs the acts of public and elected officials.
'Under the above-cited provision, it is clear that administrative complaints relative to absences without justifiable cause is within the EXCLUSIVE JURISDICTION of the Sanggunian of which respondent is a member. It is also that, if found guilty, only petitioner's fellows in the Sangguniang Bayan of which he is a member can censure, reprimand, exclude him from the session, suspend him for not more than sixty days or expel him as the case may be BUT NOT THE SANGGUNIANG PANLALAWIGAN," excerpts of the petition as obtained by The News Today stated while adding, 'Petitioner need not teach them where to go."
And the complaint was also politically motivated, Gagatam maintained, which was meant to harass and persecute him. This, the Petition further pointed out, was due to the fact that the Guimaras SP is practically a Liberal Party-Senator Franklin Drilon wing. Gagatam ran as independent candidate yet allied with Lakas Guimaras Congressman Edgar Espinosa.
'Herein petitioner who is to be prosecuted in the said administrative case is allied with Lakas and perceived by the Governor (Rahman Nava) and the Sanggunian Panlalawigan members as the strongest candidate to challenge the Nava political dynasty in the Provincial Capitol in the next elections," the Petition/Complaint added.
In seeking for the President's aid, the Vice Mayor prayed that an order be issued to dismiss the administrative case for lack of jurisdiction and those provincial officials who voted for it be held administratively and punished for usurping the powers of the Sanggunian Bayan.