Mayor charges Piñol, 3 others with sedition

COTABATO CITY — A town mayor has filed sedition charges against North Cotabato Gov. Emmanuel Piñol for allegedly instigating continuing protest actions against her since she became mayor last December following the ouster of her predecessor, a protégé of the governor.

The Mindanao Cross, Central Mindanao’s leading Catholic weekly, reported the other day that Kabacan Mayor Luzviminda Tan also named as respondents the ousted mayor, Wilfredo Bataga, Vice Mayor Eustacio Martin and Superintendent Odelon Ramoneda, North Cotabato police director.

She accused the three of conniving with Piñol in allegedly plotting to foment dissent against her leadership.

The Commission on Elections (Comelec) installed Tan as Kabacan mayor last December after invalidating the proclamation of Bataga as winner in the May 11, 2001 mayoral election due to alleged anomalies.

Bataga’s camp has since been staging protest actions to dramatize their opposition to the Comelec ruling, even barricading for months the town hall premises and preventing Tan from holding office there.

The situation worsened last month when Tan and his security escorts figured in an alleged shootout with Bataga’s followers, resulting in the death of Rico Sumatra, a member of a non-government group identified with the former mayor.

The incident forced Ramoneda to charge Tan with allegedly violating the nationwide firearms ban in connection with the barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan elections.

Hamlet Pahm, Tan’s legal counsel, however, said the mayor has been exempted from the gun ban.

In a statement, Tan said her rival’s continuing efforts to discredit her leadership and prevent her from efficiently functioning as mayor have been affecting the delivery of vital services in Kabacan, home to culturally diverse Muslims and Christians.