Basista folks press ouster of mayor
OVER COMELEC RULING ON CITIZENSHIP
BASISTA—Residents here formed a human barricade at the town hall starting at 5:30 a.m. on January 6 to press the Commission on Elections (Comelec) to issue a writ of execution after the Supreme Court affirmed the poll body’s decision for the ouster of the mayor here over citizenship issue.
Jocelyn “Joy” Perez, petitioner of the case against Mayor Manolito de Leon, led her placard-bearing supporters who trooped to the town hall and vowed to stay there until the Comelec finally acts on their call.
She said the law provides that Comelec should issue a writ of execution within 30 days upon the issuance of en banc decision, if there is no temporary restraining order (TRO), the writ of execution should be issued.
The Comelec had annulled the proclamation of De Leon as mayor after acting on the citizenship case filed by Perez, his mayoralty rival in the 2013 and declared Perez as the duly elected mayor of the municipality of Basista.
Perez, who fought De Leon in two mayoralty races, said Comelec’s en banc decision was issued on Oct. 9, 2015 while the Supreme Court affirming the Comelec decision was out on Nov. 10, 2015.
“The writ of execution should have been out on Nov. 9,” Perez said, who received her copy of the Supreme Court decision on Dec. 8.
She said her group has been filing urgent motions for the issuance of the writ every three days since December 22.
She cited Comelec Chairman Andres Bautista’s responses to the citizenship and residency issue of Sen. Grace Poe. “I learned everything from him,” she added.
She added even former Comelec Chairman Sixto Brillantes told her there’s no way they (in the Comelec) should not issue writ of execution as there is no TRO.
When Perez learned that Bautista reportedly said Comelec still has to wait for finality of Supreme Court decision, she said she sensed something was wrong.
Ousted mayor De Leon is a member of the Liberal Party.
“The elections might be over and the issue is still unsettled. That’s the scenario I’m looking at. So they gave me no choice (but to form the human barricade),” she said.
The Comelec resolution decided De Leon lost his citizenship when he was naturalized as an American citizen. On Dec. 3, 2008, he availed of the repatriation process under R.A. No. 9225 and took his Oath of Allegiance. On Oct. 17, 2009, he executed the Oath of Renunciation of his foreign citizenship.
“At this point in time, he is qualified to run and seek local elective position. However, his acts of using his American passport on Sept. 10, 2010 and June 26, 2011 or before the 2013 elections effectively barred him from running and holding public office. He reverted to his earlier status of being a dual citizen,” the resolution said.
In the 2010 elections, De Leon defeated Perez in the mayoralty post with 301 margin of votes. In the 2013 polls, De Leon and Perez fought again and he won with only 67 margin of votes.
In the May 9, 2016 elections, De Leon and Perez, a member of the Nationalist People’s Coalition-Biskeg na Pangasinan party, will fight it out again in the mayoralty race. (Tita Roces)
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