Tuesday, December 18, 2007 Aspirant's backers rally to boost case By Stephen Capillas
SUPPORTERS for mayoralty candidate Nilo Pates held a rally in front of the El Salvador City Hall as they voiced confidence it will secure a writ of execution from the Commission on Elections (Comelec) authorizing Pates to sit in as El Salvador mayor.
The rally held last Saturday comes on the heels of a vigil that Pates's followers said "was peaceful" and aimed at denouncing the Comelec move issuing a 60-day temporary restraining order (TRO) on a court ruling that declared Pates as El Salvador mayor.
This came even as El Salvador Mayor Emelita-Baculio Almirante decried the rally, claiming in a radio interview that she won fair and square, adding that Pates should wait for her to complete her third and final term in 2010 instead of contesting the election results last May.
Previously, the Regional Trial Court Branch 41 issued a ruling that declared Pates won the mayoralty elections in El Salvador City last May by several votes.
In response, Almirate's lawyer secured a TRO from the Comelec to stave off the ruling. Pates's lawyer Boy Labuntog questioned the Comelec TRO, saying Almirante's camp should have issued an appeal before the RTC-Branch 41 instead.
"The writ of execution installing Pates as mayor would be carried out pending the resolution of the appeal, then they can address the matter to the Comelec en banc and then to the Supreme Court which is the final arbiter," Labuntog said in a radio interview.
For her part, Almirante said she won the elections decisively and that her camp is prepared to take whatever legal steps to counter Pates's assumption of the mayoralty post.
"Look Pates belonged to the administration camp and they managed to secure many City Council posts, even the vice-mayoralty post while my camp only has three people in the council," Almirante said.
Earlier Almirante's brother-in-law and gubernatorial candidate Augusto Baculio questioned the court ruling on the mayor's case.
Tension has somewhat eased on El Salvador following assurances from Pates's camp that they won't resort to any violent confrontations with the followers of the local officials.
