A CASE FOR OMBUDSMAN, NOT CAPITOL

THE new order of the Sangguniang Panlalawigan (SP) suspending Urdaneta Mayor Julio Parayno III for another one year — which supposedly took effect on October 14, before his 90-day preventive suspension was to expire — was considered null and void based on the October 17 decision of Regional Trial Court Executive Judge Crisma Vismanos-Nabua, who ruled that the provincial council has no jurisdiction over the cases filed against the mayor.

The Branch 73 judge asserted that the red tape-related complaints should be under the Office of the Ombudsman and any more orders, issuances and summons by the SP relative to the case are considered invalid and have no effect.

Parayno held a press conference at his office at the Urdaneta City Hall on October 21, four days after his return from his more than two months of suspension over a case that originally named a barangay chairman as the lone respondent.

He explained that when the same case was elevated to the Anti-Red Tape Authority (ARTA) with the submission of a supplemental affidavit, it was only then that his name and that of the chief of the city’s business and licensing division appeared.

Saying that the whole process was politically motivated, he said when the same case was lodged before the SP, the docket number was changed and he became the only respondent, and eventually decided on by the provincial council without hearing his side.

“Yung sinasabi nila na kaso, mali sa simula. Kaya, kung anuman ang ipatutupad nila, ay null and void,” he said.

Vice Governor Mark Ronald Lambino earlier confirmed that Urdaneta City Mayor Parayno III was suspended for one year by the Sangguniang Panlalawigan.

Mayor Parayno was found guilty of two violations, resulting in two six-month suspensions. However, he was found not guilty of a third complaint regarding oppression.

The suspension was to take effect on October 14, the same day the Committee Report from the Committee on Blue Ribbon was adopted in a plenary session.

Parayno’s case stemmed from a complaint filed with the Anti-Red Tape Authority (ARTA) back in 2020, which was subsequently submitted to the Office of the President under the Anti-Red Tape Council. The Sanggunian Panlalawigan received ARTA’s recommendations in April of this year.

It was not a case filed before us. It was a case filed before the Office of the President through the ARTA,” Lambino said.

Parayno’s re-election bid in the May 2025 elections is being challenged by Maan Tuazon-Guico, wife of Gov. Ramon Guico III, who ordered the initial preventive suspension backed by a resolution from the SP. “(Leonardo Micua / Eva Visperas)

 

SP acted ‘without jurisdiction’ in Parayno case

THE 33-page decision of the Regional Trial Court Branch 73 in Urdaneta City stated in part that the Sangguniang Panlalawigan (SP) of Pangasinan “acted without jurisdiction and committed grave abuse of discretion when it took cognizance of SP ADM Case No. 02-2024,” which involved a complaint against Urdaneta Mayor Julio Parayno III, who was slapped with a suspension order by the provincial council.

The court decision stems from a case filed by Parayno questioning the suspension, logged as Civil Case No. U-12260.

It was a petition for Certiorari, Prohibition and Injunction with prayer for the issuance of Temporary Restraining Order and/or Status Quo Ante Order and or Preliminary Injunction.

RTC Executive Judge Crimea R. Vismanos-Nabua, in the decision dated October 16, 2024, said the assailed Recommendation dated 05 Augusta 2024 issued by the Committee on Good Government and Accountability of Public Officers, Justice and Human Rights of the Sangguniang Panlalawigan dated 08 August 2024 “should now be, as it is hereby lifted immediately”.

Copies of the decision were furnished to Atty. Baby Ruth Torre, provincial legal officer, among others.

The petition was filed against Gov. Ramon V. Guico III, Vice Governor Mark Roland Ronald Lambino, Board Members Shiela Baniqued, Napoleon Fontelera, Noel Bince, Apolonia  Bacay, Philip Cruz, Haide Pacheco, Vici Ventanilla, Marino de Guzman, Jerry Agerico Rosario, Rosary Garcia Tababa, Nicholas Jan Sison, Carolyn Sison, Joy Fernandez, Raul Sabangan, Sanggunian Secretary Verna Nava and the Anti-Red Tape Authority (ARTA).

However, the RTC judge denied the prayer to declare that respondents Governor Ramon V. Guico III, SP Secretary Verna T. Perez-Nava and the Anti-Red Tape Authority (ARTA) committed grave abuse of discretion in issuing the Letter, Transmittal Letter and Recommendation, respectively.

Part of Judge Nabua’s decision reads: “All proceedings founded on the void judgment (or act) are themselves regarded as invalid. It, accordingly, leaves the parties litigants in the same position they were in before… Hence, the petitioner Mayor Parayno must be reinstated as the Mayor of Urdaneta City, as if no case was filed against him or no preventive suspension is meted against him as the case may be”.

Parayno, in an interview, said the new one-year suspension imposed by the SP against him in connection with the same case has also been invalidated by the court decision. (Leonardo Micua)

 

Big crowd welcomes Parayno back

SUPPORTERS of Urdaneta Mayor Julio Parayno III gathered en masse in front of the old city hall on Monday, October 21, to give him a rousing welcome upon his return to office following his more than two months preventive suspension on order of the Sangguniang Panlalawigan, and implemented by Gov. Ramon Guico III.

It was considered a big show of force during the weekly flag-raising ceremony, reminiscent of a political rally, in support of Parayno whose run for a third and final term of office is being challenged by the governor’s wife, Maan Tuazon-Guico.

Some carried placards with messages of support, including “Panalo pa rin ang katotohanan laban sa kasinungalingan”.

After being slapped with the 90-day suspension, Parayno sought relief from the court and after more than two months of hearings, Regional Trial Court Executive Judge Crisma R. Vismanos-Nabua issued an order declaring his suspension by the provincial board null and void.

Parayno told his supporters that the court decision also nullified his supposed new one-year suspension by the provincial board year. (Leonardo Micua)

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