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RODRIGUEZ, Rizal: Acting Mayor Jonas Cruz on
Wednesday issued a memorandum ordering suspended Mayor Pedro Cuerpo
to vacate the mayor’s office and leave the premises of the
Municipal Hall within 24 hours or face sanctions.
In his memorandum, Cruz said that
Cuerpo’s occupation of the Office of the Municipal Mayor, despite
his suspension, continues to create tension and confusion among the
employees and the residents of Rodriguez.
Cruz also said that the suspended
mayor’s prolonged stay in the town hall is causing unauthorized
and unjustified electric, water, and communications expenses.
“In view thereof, within 24
hours upon receipt of this letter memorandum, you are hereby ordered
to vacate the office of the Municipal mayor and leave the premises
of the Municipal Hall. Otherwise, much to my regret, I shall be
constrained to take necessary legal steps to protect the rights and
interest of the people of Rodriguez,” Cruz said in his memorandum.
Earlier, Cruz filed sedition
charges against Cuerpo and several members of the municipal council
before the Rizal Provincial Prosecutors Office, saying that the
beleaguered official “planned and effectively carried out” a
public and tumultuous uprising.
In his complaint, Cruz said that
the action by Cuerpo and his supporters was “more than being an
obvious breach of peace,” adding that the move was calculated to
prevent the municipal government from carrying out its daily
functions and operations.
Cruz cited in his complaint the
manner the suspended mayor and his supporters acted as they entered
and remained holed up inside his office at the town hall.
“Cuerpo planned and effectively
carried out a public and tumultuous uprising wherein a great number
of people led by the suspended mayor, by force and intimidation,
entered the municipal building,” Cruz said in his complaint.
Cruz said that he was obliged to
suspend the regular operations and services of the municipal
government to protect the employees and his constituents from the
“chaotic” take-over of Cuerpo.
Cuerpo who has asserted his right
to enter the government building has remained defiant since he
entered his office on March 24.
The tension at the town hall
stemmed from Cuerpo’s questioning of his 60-day suspension and his
replacement by Cruz. Cuerpo was suspended over a tiff on control of
the town’s 14-hectare sanitary landfill.
In a press conference, Cruz bared
the COA report indicating unaccounted transactions of the
municipality valued at P429 million that the COA questioned.
“There is a need to investigate
whether or not these projects were awarded by the suspended mayor
without the benefit of transparent and valid public bidding and who
the contractors were,” said Cruz, stressing that the people need
to know why the said contractors enjoyed such generosity from the
municipal government.
--James Konstantin Galvez
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