By LITO RULONA, Correspondent
VICE Mayor Joaquin Uy yesterday said he would not assume as acting mayor without a notice from the interior department even as he dared Puntod barangay chairman Marvin Beja and his group to sue him.
Uy said this after Beja warned that the vice mayor was courting a lawsuit over his failure to automatically take over as acting mayor after the temporary restraining order (TRO) on the implementation of a decision to suspend Mayor Oscar Moreno for 90 days lapsed on Tuesday afternoon.
The suspension order was issued by the Office of the Ombudsman that looked into a graft complaint filed against Moreno by Beja.
Also suspended were city accountant Beda Joy Elot and city budget officer Percy Salazar. The officials were accused by Beja of leasing a house in Macasandig for over P100 thousand to train boxers under city hall’s sports program without the green light of the city council.
Uy said that until he receives an order from the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG), he would not serve as acting mayor, and he would continue exercising his powers as head of the city’s legislature.
“I am still waiting for an order from the DILG. Kung mo-file sila og kaso, sige bahala sila,” Uy said. “Lisod mo assume nga wala’y order. Wala pa kita’y notice nga nadawatan.”
Uy and Moreno are both members of the Liberal Party (LP). The day the 60-day TRO issued by the Court of Appeals (CA) against the implementation of the ombudsman’s suspension order lapsed, Uy and Moreno were together, turning over new buildings to a public school in Barangay Pigsag-an. The same day, they attended a meeting of the Regional Development Council (RDC) which Moreno chairs.
Uy said everything was functioning “normally” at city hall.
“Sila (Beja’s group) ra man diha ang saba kaayo,” he said.
Lawyer and former vice mayor Antonio Soriano said he agreed with Uy that the vice mayor cannot just assume as acting mayor without being directed by the DILG.
Soriano, now the convenor of Citizens’ Watch on Good Governance, said there is a legal process--the order would be forwarded to the DILG office here, and then it would serve the suspension order.
“Dili mahitabo nga ma-charge si Uy for dereliction of duty because no order has been served yet,” said Soriano, adding that not even the absence of a preliminary injunction is a reason for the vice mayor to take over as acting mayor.
Moreno has sought the injunction from the CA but associate justices have yet to act on his petition.
Without a directive from the DILG, he said, “It’s a status quo.”
“Kung walay preliminary injunction (from the CA), magpadayon pa gihapon as mayor si Mayor Moreno,” Soriano said.
