Caloocan councilors urge Zamora to quit

Caloocan City officials called on Executive Secretary Ronaldo Zamora to resign following censure from the Supreme Court (SC) for the 90-day preventive suspension he meted to Mayor Reynaldo Malonzo and nine former and incumbent councilors.

The call was led by Councilor Edgar Erice, majority floor leader, who filed yesterday a resolution asking for the resignation of the Executive Secretary.

Meanwhile, Malonzo said he had consulted with his lawyers regarding the possibility of filing charges of abuse of authority against Zamora.

Malonzo pointed out that a case of grave abuse of authority he had filed against then Department of the Interior and Local Government Secretary Ronaldo Puno and Councilor Macario Asistio III, who acted as acting mayor during the 21-day suspension, are pending in a Caloocan court.

With the Supreme Court decision that included a reprimand of Malacañang officials who implemented the suspension, Malonzo said the cases they filed against Puno and Asistio were bolstered.

In Erice's resolution, he said Zamora should resign on the basis of the ruling that grave abuse of discretion amounting to excess of jurisdiction was committed by Palace officials who issued the suspension.

Malonzo and nine councilors including then city alderman and now Vice Mayor Oscar Malapitan, were ordered suspended by the DILG for enacting an allegedly illegal ordinance realigning P39 million from a P50 million city fund allotted for the purchase of a parcel of land for a provincial bus terminal.

The suspension was cut short when the Caloocan officials secured a temporary restraining order from the Supreme Court.