Over 1-Year Suspension: Lapid says he was persecuted

SAN FERNANDO, Pampanga - Pampanga Gov. Lito Lapid charged yesterday that "some very powerful and very influential people" are behind the enforcement of the Ombudsman's order suspending him for one year.

"The enforcement of the Ombudsman's order just goes to show that even as I have completely entrusted my fate to the Supreme Court, some very powerful and very influential people would stop at nothing to deprive me of my right to seek justice within the bounds of law," Lapid said, without identifying who those very influential people were.

He said that his suspension despite his appeal to the Supreme Court was "a brazen disregard of due process which deprived me and the people of Pampanga, who elected me into office, of our constitutional right to seek justice in the Highest Court."

Administrative and criminal cases have piled up against Lapid since 1998. Lapid, who did not support the election bid of President Estrada, was snubbed at least three times by the President during their encounters in this province since then.

Lapid also charged that the authorities who implemented the Ombudsman's order had treated him and his supporters "like criminals."

"They threw copies of the order into the premises of my residences in Angeles City and Porac, as if these were ransom notes. In the dead of the night, the PNP dispersed my supporters who were holding vigil at the capitol. Now, they are saying that I am hiding like a fugitive," he said.

He added that his "persecution" had gone too far after some 200 armed policemen swooped down on the capitol Thursday dawn to drive out his supporters and allow Senior Provincial Board Member Edna David to assume the post of acting governor.

Lapid's legal counsel, Augusto Panlilio said Lapid filed with the Supreme Court yesterday an amended petition for a temporary restraining order against the suspension order after the Court of Appeals denied his plea for a preliminary injunction.

"Our petition also questions the failure of the CA to act on the petition within the 60-day TRO it earlier granted," Panlilio said.

The Ombudsman ordered the one-year suspension of Lapid on Nov. 22 last year for his alleged involvement in the overcharging of lahar sand and quarry fees in the province.

The order was not immediately implemented as the CA issued a 60-day TRO against it. The TRO lapsed last Sunday, even before the CA was able to decide on Lapid's plea for a preliminary injunction.

Panlilio said the enforcement of the suspension order in effect carried out a punishment for an offense still being tried.

"By allowing the Ombudsman to enforce the suspension, the CA virtually declared the government guilty of a charge it still has to decide upon," Panlilio claimed.