By Leilanie G. Adriano
Staff Reporter
MARCOS, Ilocos Norte—The saga
of the town with two mayors continued on April 22 after a brief hiatus as the
police padlocked the municipal mayor’s office.
The lockdown of the said
office, according to the police, is to scale down tensions in the town as
former Marcos mayor Salvador Pillos and proclaimed Marcos mayor Arsenio Agustin
continue to claim mayoralty of the town.
The electoral case has been
elevated to the Supreme Court as Pillos filed an election protest against
Agustin.
On April 21 at about 6 pm,
the Marcos police were alerted of the re-entry of Pillos to mayor’s office. The
mayor’s office is located on the second floor of the Marcos municipal hall.
After re-entering the office,
Pillos said he will not vacate it unless the Supreme Court comes out with a
final verdict on his protest against Agustin.
Agustin has been acting as
the mayor of this town after he was proclaimed by the local Commission on
Elections and has set-up his own “mayor’s office” at the adjacent Mothering
Center.
Agustin was forced to
establish his own office after Pillos refused to relinquish the mayor’s office
until the High Tribunal hands down a final decision on his electoral protest.
The police have long been
closely monitoring the situation in this town.
Earlier, Pillos agreed to
vacate the mayor’s office while waiting for the resolution of a motion for
reconsideration filed by his lawyer Ferdinand Ignacio.
But at about 4 pm on April
21, the Agustin camp attempted to remove the “protection fence” put up by
Pillos at the front door of the mayor’s office. As a result, Pillos rushed to
the municipal hall from his house to ask Marcos acting police chief P/Chief
Insp. Dexter Corpuz to cease from dismantling the said obstruction until the
Supreme Court decides on his protest.
Pillos added that they expect
a decision within “the next two weeks.”
Pillos also vowed to vacate
the said office if the Supreme Court decides against his electoral protest
against Agustin.
As an off-shoot of this
incident, the provincial police office augmented the police force in this town.
Police Sr. Insp. Amador Quiochio was assigned the ground commander who would
implement order should there be any more untoward incidents between the two
feuding groups.
After a series of
negotiations between the opposing parties, the police were able to control the
tension by padlocking the mayor’s office until a final ruling has been issued
by the Supreme Court.
“So far, the town is
generally peaceful,” Quiochio stressed.
Pillos insists that he is the
rightful Marcos mayor as Agustin has been disqualified due to his citizenship
by the Comelec in a decision. The Comelec has also issued a writ of execution
dated June 18 in support of the decision.
Agustin however claims that
he was proclaimed the municipal board of canvassers after he won by 804 votes.
Agustin tallied 5,020 total votes against Pillos’ 4,216 votes.
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