Regencia sworn into office

By Nora Soriño,
Iligan Bureau Chief

ILIGAN City — City officials here took their oath before Judge Albert Abragan, Executive Judge of the Regional Trial Court of Lanao Norte on Thursday morning at Buhanginan Hills at the Anahaw Amphitheater. Elected City Mayor Celso Regencia was also sworn into office albeit in absentia.

Regencia’s wife, together with members of the family, accepted the signed document of his oath of office.

The oath-taking ceremonies were administered in groups of threes.

The first batch include: Councilor-elect Samuel Huertas, Eric Capitan and Jesse Ray Balanay. The next batch were: Demosthenes Plando, Belinda Lim and Sorilie Christine Bacsarpa. Then it was the turn of Bernard Pacana, Ian Uy, and Randy Ryan Grancis Ong. Then it was the turn of Petronilo Pardillo. Councilor elect Rosevi Queenie Belmonte was not around to take her oath.

Regencia is detained at the Iligan City Jail on charges of murder and frustrated murder in connection with the ambuscade of an Iligan solon in 2014.

Pending the resolution of the case, the Commission on Elections (Comelec) allowed Regencia to run for re-election last May 9.

Regencia was overwhelmingly reelected along with his political lineup.

During the oath taking ceremony Thursday, the newly elected city council led by Msgr. Jemar Vera Cruz, a Catholic prelate who filed a leave with the Vatican to run and win as vice mayor and running mate of Regencia, led a “head-shaving” of all elected city officials to pressure the Department of Justice (DOJ) to free Regencia.

Vera Cruz said that the head-shaving symbolized the Iliganons’ appeal to the Duterte administration to hasten the release of Regencia.

Three of Vera Cruz’s priests-colleagues, Fathers Albert Mendez, Nasser Zaragoza, and Jeffrey Balanay, joined the new city officials, all of them political neophytes belonging to the National Unity Party, in the head shaving.

Vera Cruz took a leave of absence from his priestly duties when he announced his plan to join Regencia’s ticket last year and promised to serve for only one term.

“I am shaving my head as an appeal to the [Duterte] government to fast-track the review of the case of Mayor Regencia because deep in my heart, I believe that the accusation against him is false, since he is a hindrance to their agenda,” Vera Cruz said, referring to the mayor’s political opponents.

He also dispelled reports that he will sit as mayor since Regencia is currently in detention.

After each oath taking their was the signing of the oaths and then about 3 minutes of photo ops. Family members were also there to participate in the photo oaths of the officials who had just taken their oaths.

After the councilors, it was the turn of the vice mayor elect Jemar Vera Cruz to take his oath.. Reelected mayor Celso Regencia was not around although members of his family were around. To note, the mayor is presently in detention at the city jail in connection with the ambush of then representative Vicente Belmonte, Jr. last Dec. 11, 2014.

A message from Regencia was heard live though in which among other things he enjoined everybody to help in the betterment of the city. He could not help too lashing at the persons who he said were responsible in his present detention even as he added too that he was innocent of the charges leveled against him. Because, he added, if that were true, Belmonte would not have been around anymore adding that the latter said that he (Belmonte) was being rid of by him (Regencia) because the congressman was a threat to his candidacy as mayor. If that were so, the mayor said, “why did he withdraw?”

The mayor added that like what Pres. Duterte is calling for the present city officials led by him will try their best to put an end to drug addiction, corruption and other criminal acts. He warned then of the drug lords, the pushers, the kidnappers and other criminals to stop, or else.

Earlier, Regencia said that the city has now a new city director in the person of Col. Leony Roy Ga. Representatives of the city’s 5 police stations were around. He then urged Iliganons to be united. (with reports from pna)