Malabon City Hall shuts down

Work at the Malabon City Hall ground to a halt yesterday while its flag flew half-mast as more than a thousand loyal supporters of Mayor Amado Vicencio continued their human barricade to prevent Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) personnel from serving the suspension order on the local chief executive.

The DILG men, headed by National Capital Region director Rafael Benaldo and accompanied by Northern Police District director Chief Superintendent Marcelino Franco Jr., failed for the fourth time to pass through the barricade and serve the suspension order.

From 10 a.m., all the doors, including the fire exits of the three-story city hall building, were locked, preventing anyone from getting in and going out. The doors were re-opened only at around two in the afternoon.

DILG Secretary Jose Lina Jr. earlier vowed to implement the order despite the opposition of the mayor’s supporters.

He has appealed to Vicencio "to obey the order and seek legal remedies available to him."

Vicencio did not report for work at city hall yesterday.

"He really intended not to go to his office so as not avoid emotional flare-ups by his supporters," Gerry Gonzales, the mayor’s spokesman said.

The impasse has affected not just services and work at city hall.

Jeepney drivers plying the Malabon-Navotas-Gasak-Divisoria routes complained that the barricades have eaten up a big part of their daily income. Vendors at the Pamilihang Sentral ng Malabon, including sidewalk vendors, also blamed the situation for a big drop in their daily sales. An appliance company holding a bargain sale at the covered court behind the city hall was empty despite the big discounts offered.

An airconditioned bus blocked the main road in front of the city hall while another bus and a dump truck fully blocked the side roads. Used truck tires stacked up three meters high were placed to fill up spaces not covered by the vehicles so that anyone wishing to pass through had to literally climb up to go the other side.

City hall sources close to the opposition lamented the alleged "meddling" of the religious sector, particularly the parish priest of the nearby San Bartolome Parish Church, a spitting distance from the city hall.

When the suspension servers arrived, the parish priest was seen talking with them allegedly trying to dissuade them from doing what they were sent there for. Efforts to reach Fr. Ric Torrefiel, San Bartolome Parish priest, failed.

Sources told The STAR he was resting and could not be disturbed. They said, however, that the priest talked to the suspension servers "brokering for peace."

"He was there to prevent violence from breaking out," one source said.

Speakers blared in front of the city hall while persons claiming to be born-again Christians defended the mayor heaping praises on the good he had done for the people. Sources said Aglipayans or members of the Philippine Independent Church were also spotted in the area.

Meanwhile, Councilor Edilberto Torres told The STAR he had received a copy of the temporary restraining order (TRO) filed yesterday morning by Vicencio before the Court of Appeals furnished by the mayor’s lawyers.

Vicencio is accused of graft by opposition Councilors Edilberto Torres, Chiqui Roque-Villaroel, Payapa Ona and Ricky Bernardo over the alleged anomalous purchase of a 12-hectare land in Barangay Tanza, Navotas.