Kikang to Gan: Allow court decide on who should sit as mayor

By LITO RULONA
Correspondent

VICE Mayor Raineir Joaquin Uy on Monday told Councilor Leon Gan to allow a court to decide on whether or not he (Uy) should assume as mayor of the city even as he told the lawyer-councilor that his legal opinion is just among the many clashing views about the interior department’s Feb. 5 service of a dismissal order against Mayor Oscar Moreno.

Uy said this even as he explained why he  decided to preside over the Feb. 12 regular session of the city council.

He said he would continue serving as vice mayor of the city until a court decides otherwise.

The vice mayor said this after Councilor Gan asked him about his status in city hall. “I will not go into the details but the order was properly served by the DILG,” he said.

Gan earlier called on Uy to assume as mayor, warning that he could be charged with dereliction of duty if he did not. He argued that Moreno failed to secure a temporary restraining order and a writ of preliminary injunction against the most recent dismissal order that was served in Feb. 5.

But Uy responded by saying that there were numerous interpretations of the Moreno case, and Gan’s opinion is just one of them.

“There is a decision, and there is a resolution coming from the Court of Appeals,” said Uy.

Moreno and his lawyer said the CA resolution last week was clear that the case in which the most recent dismissal order sprang from is among the 24 cases consolidated by the appellate court late last year. They argued that like the 23 cases, the 24th case is “under the umbrella” of a 2017 writ of preliminary injunction.

Uy told Gan: “Everybody has an opinion… your opinion… other lawyers’ opinion… my opinion. What about the opinion of our very own mayor? So we all have our opinion… It is up to the proper court to resolve everything.”

After the city council session, Gan said: “Dili na ko modugang. Basta kung dunay moreklamo, ila na kana nga tulobagon.”