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Tuesday, September 05, 2006
Provincial exec: The fight is not over
SAYING the battle is far from over, Iloilo Provincial Administrator Manuel "Boy" Mejorada declared Monday he is taking the exclusion case against him all the way to the Supreme Court.
"This is a temporary setback," Mejorada told reporters as he revealed a defect in the original ruling of Municipal Judge Victorino Maniba Jr. that would prevent the Electoral Registration Board (ERB) of Pavia from removing his name from the list of voters.
This reaction came in the wake of the decision of the Regional Trial Court Branch 34 Judge Yolanda Panaguiton Gavino to uphold "in toto" the ruling of Maniba.
Mejorada pointed out that the dispositive portion of Judge Maniba's decision directed the Board of Election Inspector to cancel his name, an error that he claims would serve as stumbling block to the efforts of Tesda secretary Augusto Boboy Syjuco to prevent him from running in the first place.
He said that under Republic Act 8189, it is the Electoral Registration Board or ERB, which is mandated to effect any changes in the list of permanent voters such as exclusion.
Mejorada said he will bring the case to the Supreme Court on certiorari over what he claims as grave abuse of discretion on the part of Judge Maniba in "wrongly appreciating the facts" about his voter registration in Barangay Amparo, Pavia, Iloilo.
"The battle is definitely far from over," he said.
Mejorada said he will never give up on his fight to keep his status as voter of Pavia.
Nonetheless, he will continue his exposes on alleged anomalies committed by the Syjuco couple, he said.
"This case underscores the fact that Syjuco is afraid of a penniless opponent who only has the truth to back him up," Mejorada said.
What Syjuco is doing, he said, is "sweep aside any threat to his or his wife's re-election" so that they can continue to lord it over the 2nd district of Iloilo.
Mejorada's legal defeat in the Regional Trial Court paved the way for Syjuco and his wife, incumbent Representative Judy Jalbuena Syjuco, to make their first public appearance in over two months.
The Syjuco couple was reportedly seen in Leon and Sta. Barbara, Iloilo last week attending to a few public ceremonies.
However, they have continued to keep quiet on the issue of the 1,582 cellphone units worth P6.2 million that could not be found after these were purchased by the Department of Transportation and Communications for "the use of Representative Syjuco." (Press release)
(September 5, 2006 issue)
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