CITY HALL OPERATIONS REMAIN NORMAL

URDANETA City’s top four councilors as of March 19 have officially expressed their refusal to serve as acting mayor and vice mayor and the other six, all political allies of Mayor Julio Parayno III and Vice Mayor Jimmy Parayno, are expected to make the same stance, asserting that there are no vacant positions to be filled up.

City Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) Director Richard Real told The PUNCH that Councilors Franco del Prado and Warren Andrada, the top two councilors in the 2022 elections, informed him of their rejection of the acting posts. The third and fourth councilors, Franklin Villanueva and Aurelio Agsalud, also appeared before his office on March 19 and gave the same position.

Meanwhile, policemen are still guarding the entrance and exit doors of the Urdaneta City Hall as well as all the satellite and other offices of the city government to stop the two Paraynos from entering and prevent them from discharging their powers and functions.

The designation of Villanueva and Agsalud as acting mayor and acting vice mayor, respectively, were signed by DILG Secretary Juanito Victor Remulla on March 14, 2025, the day some 100 policemen arrived at the Urdaneta City hall to accompany DILG Regional Director Jonathan Paul Lausen Jr. to enforce the one-year suspension orders against the Paraynos by the Office of the President.

Mayor Parayno, in an interview with The PUNCH at his home last week, said he and his cousin will only abide by the suspension order during the current election period, where they are both running for reelection, if the Commission on Elections (COMELEC) en banc issues a clearance.

The COMELEC, in a letter dated February 11, 2025, already said that the serving of the suspension order on January 7 was valid and does not require the poll body’s clearance.

Parayno said the Regional Trial Court has denied their petition for a temporary restraining order against the suspension order based on a technicality and not on the merit of the case. The court, however, acknowledged that the mayor’s and the vice mayor’s suspension were not formally served on January 7 contrary to the position of the DILG and the COMELEC.

In the meantime, the Paraynos have been working from home since March 14 while City Administrator Randy Parayno, elder brother of the mayor, continues to hold fort.

While The Punch was interviewing Parayno, two city government employees in their office uniform arrived to have papers signed by the mayor. (Leonardo Micua) 

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