Vicencio out of City Hall anew

Malabon City Vice Mayor Mark Allan Jay Yambao replaced beleaguered Mayor Amado Vicencio yesterday in an acting capacity in the wake of a one-year suspension order slapped by Malacañang on a conviction for abuse of authority in connection with the alleged anomalous purchase early last year of a P90-million property intended as relocation site for displaced city raildwellers in Tanza, Navotas.

Yambao was sworn in before Judge Edison Quintin, presiding judge of the Malabon Regional Trial Court (RTC) at around 11 a.m.

Yambao, who assumed Vicencio’s office "by virtue of an operation of the law," said the suspension order was received by Vicencio in his office at around 8 a.m. At around 9:30 a.m., DILG-NCR Director Serafin Bernaldo ordered Yambao to take his oath of office as acting city mayor.

In a five-page decision signed by Executive Secretary Alberto Romulo, Malacañang ajudged Vicencio guilty of abuse of authority first, for making a down payment of P12.6 million which was not approved by the city council of Malabon City (three months suspension); second, for entering into a MOA without a certification from the city Chief Accountant that funds are available (three months suspension); and third; for causing injury to the government when he made the P12.6 million down payment, in violation of Section 338 of the Local Government Code (six months suspension) or a penalty of 12 months.

The mayor, a confirmed ally and admirer of deposed President Joseph Estrada, however, was acquitted of any hint of corruption by Malacañang, saying that after thorough study of the records and pleadings filed in this cause, this Office finds the charges of dishonesty, misconduct and gross negligence to be "without merit."

Vicencio’s 12-month suspension, his third this year, extends over his term, his third and last as mayor, ending in June next year virtually allowing him no room to return to his post as mayor. The case was filed by staunch oppositionists Councilors Edilberto Torres, Ma. Luisa Roque-Villaroel, Venancio Sevilla and Payapa Ona.

Sources close to Vicencio, who refused to be named, told The STAR the mayor is making an appeal before the Court of Appeals presently (soon). They also relayed Vicencio’s appeal to his supporters to stay calm and not to resort to any violence in the face of this new challenge. Vicencio could not be immediately reached for comment.

Yambao, who is eyeing Vicencio’s post in the coming 2004 polls, said the mayor’s camp is expected to seek a temporary restraining order (TRO) to buck the suspension "as they used to do."

After barely shaking off the effects of a 90-day suspension order by the Sandiganbayan late last year stemming from a conviction on graft charges involving the now aborted construction of a P122-million new city hall in Barangay Catmon, a 60-day preventive suspension was again imposed on the embattled mayor last April 20, the eve of Malabon’s cityhood, this time for the questioned Tanza, Navotas property. A week of uncertainty followed until Vicencio got a relief from the Malacañang suspension order on a TRO decided in favor of the mayor by the Court of Appeals’ Special 9th Division chaired by Justice Mercedes Gozo-Dadole last April 30.

In a memorandum order issued last Oct. 22, DILG Secretary Jose Lina ordered Yambao to assumed the Office of the Mayor in acting capacity "while Mayor Vicencio’s temporary legal incapacity subsists."

The questioned 12.5-hectare property, an idle fishpond being filled up to this day, was intended as relocation site for the displaced residents of the city "along da riles" now the object of a massive modernization by the North Luzon Railway Corp. (NLRC).