Saturday, April 19, 2008 Palace puts off suspension of Rizal town mayor
MALACAÑANG deferred the suspension of Rodriguez, Rizal Mayor Pedro Cuerpo until his appeal to reverse the 60-day penalty imposed against him by the Rizal Provincial Board (PB) has been decided with finality by the Office of the President, Interior and Local Government Secretary Ronaldo Puno said.
Puno, in an ambush interview at the 1st Assembly of Association of Generals and Flag Officers (Agfo) at Camp Aguinaldo in Quezon City, said Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita issued the order April 17, which his office immediately served last Friday.
"The suspension has been suspended. We have received a copy of the order from Malacañang. We're implementing it as we speak. He (Cuerpo) will go back, I think, as soon as they are served with the copies," he said.
He explained that the deferment of the 60-day suspension was to avoid the provincial resolution from becoming moot and academic should the Office of the President decide to push through with the suspension after reviewing the case.
The Rizal Provincial Government imposed the suspension on Cuerpo after his office insisted on collecting garbage tipping fees, based on a town ordinance, from Metro Manila cities and private garbage haulers that are using the town's sanitary landfill.
The Provincial Government headed by Governor Casmiro Ynares III nullified the Rodriguez ordinance and issued the suspension after Cuerpo refused to heed the order. But the embattled mayor said he would never vacate the mayor's office, adding that he should not have been suspended while his appeal before Malacañang has yet to be decided upon.
On Friday morning, Cuerpo left the Office of the Municipal Mayor to attend a hearing on his case at the Sandiganbayan in Quezon City.
Wearing a crisp barong tagalog, Cuerpo went out of the municipal building at 8 a.m. Friday to attend the arraignment of the two criminal cases filed against him before the anti-graft court.
According to the Rizal Provincial Government, Cuerpo attended the arraignment of his two cases involving illegal demolition and his refusal to process a bidding permit.
Despite the toll taken by his continued stay in the Rodriguez mayor's office that started last March 24, the suspended mayor remained defiant vowing to continue the fight for what he claimed is the right of his constituents to have a say on the operation and imposition of tipping fees for the 14-hectare Montalban sanitary landfill located in the town.
It was not immediately known whether Cuerpo intends to vacate the local government office once and for all, or he would be returning after the proceedings.
Provincial Information Officer (PIO) Tony Mateo said there are no plans of stopping Cuerpo from entering the Office of the Municipal Mayor, adding that there are legal steps to address the situation.
"We have no intentions of stopping Cuerpo from entering the town hall. Since there are cases filed against him, we will just wait for the duly constituted authorities to make the legal action," said Mateo. (JMR/AH/Sunnex)
