Friday, July 18, 2008
Baquerfo sues VM for assuming post as Tudela mayor
ROGELIO Baquerfo, the man the Commission on Elections (Comelec) proclaimed as mayor of Tudela, Cebu, filed a complaint and asked the anti-graft office to investigate his vice mayor for usurpation.
Clint Maratas, Baquerfo said in an affidavit submitted to the Office of the Ombudsman-Visayas, has “illegally assumed the office and function of the undersigned” and has issued a memorandum last July 14 declaring that he is now the acting mayor of the town.
Baquerfo’s lawyer, Noel Archival, said a separate complaint for usurpation has been filed against Demetrio Granada, whom the Regional Trial Court (RTC) has declared to be the lawful mayor of Tudela based on the result of a recount of votes.
Sandiganbayan
It was Granada who, based an “executive order”, directed Maratas to assume as acting mayor so as to give Granada time to attend the anti-graft hearings being conducted by the Sandiganbayan against Baquerfo over a water project.
The complaint, Archival said, was lodged before the Office of the Cebu Provincial Prosecutor last June yet and covered his issuance of a separate memorandum informing the Municipal Government that he is now assuming office.
“We thought of filing another complaint against Granada but we realized that there is only one criminal intent. So, there is no need yet to file another complaint against him,” Archival explained.
Attached to Baquerfo’s complaint is a copy of Maratas’ July 14 memorandum addressed to all Municipal department heads, all barangay captains and “all other concerned personnel.”
Attendance
In it, Maratas said he has assumed as acting mayor “pursuant to executive order 08-01 of Mayor Demetrio P. Granada, who went to Cebu City... for his attendance of a court hearing as petitioner.”
“Failure to comply with this order shall be at your risk,” the memorandum read.
“In assuming said memorandum order, Vice Mayor Clint Maratas has been illegally assuming office and function of the undersigned upon a wrong assumption that he was duly designated acting mayor of Tudela, Cebu by virtue of an executive order issued by Mayor Demetrio Granada,” Baquerfo’s complaint read.
Granada “is not even authorized to act as mayor as he does not have any basis for assuming the function and the office of the mayor,” it added. (KNR)
For Bisaya stories from Cebu. Click here. (July 18, 2008 issue)
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