Another LGU with two mayors?

LIFE’S INSPIRATIONS: “…`I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand. I and the Father are one’…” (Jesus Christ, our God and Savior, in John 10:28-30, the Holy Bible).

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ANOTHER LGU WITH TWO MAYORS? The phenomenon of local government units, or cities and municipalities in the country having two mayors, seems to have afflicted even the far-flung town of Ditsaan-Ramain, in the province of Lanao Del Sur.

In a motion for clarification that was filed with the Ombudsman on Friday, April 17, 2015, the acting Mayor who was installed after the elected Mayor was suspended is complaining, through her lawyer, that the suspended Mayor re-assumed his office even if the six month-period of his suspension is not over yet.

The acting Mayor who sought the clarification is Vice Mayor Anna Mahlyne A. Macarampat. She is represented by Makati City based lawyer Maribel G. Alvarez Domado. The Mayor who has re-assumed his position is Mayor Ali Untao Adiong.

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OMBUDSMAN RULING SOUGHT: Here are portions of Domado’s motion with the Ombudsman: “… Mayor Adiong (was suspended through an order approved by Ombudsman Conchita Carpio Morales on 13 October 2014) for a period of six (6) months…

“As the elected Vice-Mayor of the municipality, Ms. Macarampat assumed the position of Acting Municipal Mayor on December 4, 2014… On April 13, 2015, Mayor Adiong, in a letter of the same date… notified Provincial Director McMillan A. Lucman of DILG-Lanao del Sur of his re-assumption to office…

“He stated therein, among others, that (his) preventive suspension… on October 13, 2014 in the said case had expired and/or lapsed into effectivity (sic) on April 10, 2015, as the delay in the disposition of the aforementioned administrative case was never due to his fault or negligence…

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TOWN IN CHAOS WITH TWO MAYORS: “Acting Mayor Macarampat… informed all officials and employees of the municipality, in her Memorandum dated April 14, 2015… that her term as Acting Mayor has not yet ended, or (is) still valid, subsisting and effective…

“The majority of the Sangguniang Bayan Members (however) never supported… Vice-Mayor Macarampat as acting mayor, and they continuously and firmly supported and remained loyal to Mayor Adiong. They took cognizance of Mayor Adiong’s re-assumption to position…

“The officials and employees of the municipality may be in chaos and are now confused as to whom should be followed as the rightful person to act as municipal mayor of the municipality. Vice-Mayor Macarampat cannot now fully function as the Acting Municipal Mayor due to the re-assumption to office of Mayor Adiong…”

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