Comelec serves order ousting Tanauan mayor

Tanauan City — Tension gripped the Tanauan City Hall anew yesterday as local election officials served the order signed by Commission on Elections (Comelec) Chairman Benjamin Abalos installing Sonia Torres-Aquino as the duly elected city mayor, replacing incumbent Alfredo Corona.

Corona, however, refused to receive the order from provincial election supervisor Ronald Ilas as hundreds of his supporters barricaded the main entrance of City Hall.

Escorted by policemen, Ilas instead pasted the order on the front door of City Hall, witnessed by Aquino’s representatives.

But before Ilas could leave the premises, city legal officer Abner Roxas confronted him and explained why they refused to accept the Comelec order.

"The validity of the order is doubtful since it is not clear what writ of execution is being implemented here," Roxas told The STAR.

He said the writ of execution issued last Jan. 16 had been set aside after the Comelec en banc gave way to Corona’s Feb. 1 motion for reconsideration of the second division’s ruling and writ of execution unseating Corona.

The Comelec, however, failed to come up with the mandatory majority of four votes, thus, according to Comelec rules, affirming the earlier decision of the second division.

In a two-page order, Abalos said that in view of the stalemate, the Jan. 16 order granting the motion for execution has been affirmed.

Roxas, however, disagreed, arguing that the Comelec en banc should have issued a new writ of execution.

Meanwhile, the legal service department of the Land Bank of the Philippines where the city government maintains an account has frozen all transactions after Aquino’s lawyer, George Erwin Garcia, requested the bank to recognize her as the mayor of Tanauan City.

In a letter, Amado Alexis Garcia Claros, Landbank’s legal officer, said, "Because of the legal issue posed by the counsel of Aquino, we deem it proper to make representation (with) the Comelec, and ask for a clarification on the divided opinion of the commission."

"The bank believes that the best recourse (is to freeze the account) to maintain neutrality on the matter," Claros said.

In an effort not to provoke clashes between her and Corona’s supporters, Torres-Aquino decided to hold office at the old Philippine Banking Corp. building along A. Mabini Highway, a few hundred meters away from City Hall.

The STAR tried to get a statement from Torres-Aquino’s chief of staff, Romy Villadolid, but he declined to be interviewed and referred the inquiry to their legal counsel.

Many policemen are now deployed around City Hall to prevent any confrontation between the rival camps.

Superintendent Francisco Don Montenegro, Batangas police director, said his men would stay neutral while maintaining peace and order here.