Sunday, April 15, 2007 Leyson blames City Hall for delays in house
THE Commission on Elections (Comelec) yesterday gave Talisay City mayoral aspirant Gabriel Leyson and his petitioners five days to submit their position papers in light of the disqualification case against Leyson.
Lawyer Lionel Marco Castillano, Cebu acting provincial election supervisor, issued the order, as Leyson and his lawyer William Boco submitted a formal reply to the three separate petitions filed by nine Talisay City residents.
The petitioners, among them a lawyer, a barangay captain and a balut vendor, questioned the residency of Leyson in Talisay City.
They said the Lakas-CMD mayoral bet has not been seen staying or sleeping in his small house in Barangay Lagtang. They described the house as “unfinished, unoccupied and uninhabitable.”
Although his client is not seen often in the Lagtang house, Boco said Leyson has been renting a house in Sitio Oldog, Barangay Poblacion for the last two years.
Leyson built the house on a family-owned property in Barangay Lagtang, Boco said.
But Boco said City Hall and Lagtang Barangay Captain Celiapo Cabuenas, one of the petitioners, gave Leyson a runaround when he applied for a building permit.
“They’re giving him a hard time to secure it and that resulted to the delay in the issuance of the building permit,” Boco said.
He said City Hall finally issued the building permit last January.
Old beef
As a result of the delay, Leyson wasn’t able to make improvements on his house, Boco said.
Leyson, in a separate interview, reiterated that the petitions are mere repetitions of an issue, which the Comelec had already ruled on in his favor.
“It’s pure and simple harassment, a rehash of an old issue that Talisay City Comelec had already acted upon,” he said.
The Talisay City Comelec approved last year Leyson’s application for transfer of residency to Zone 3, Sitio Ilang-ilang in Barangay Lagtang.
Meanwhile, Castillano explained that his office will only receive the documentary evidence on the filed petition because only the Comelec in Manila will resolve it.
Once the position papers and other additional evidence are submitted within five days, all documents will be hand-carried to the main office’s clerk of the commission.
The clerk of the commission, he said, will then raffle off the case, which will fall either to the Comelec’s first or second division.
The poll body is expected to resolve disqualification cases 15 days before the May 14 elections. (GC)
