DILG: Only Malacañang can discipline Joey

Only President Arroyo can impose administrative sanctions on erring city mayors, a ranking official of the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) said yesterday.

DILG Undersecretary Agnes Devanadera said Administrative Order No. 23, issued by then President Fidel Ramos, specifically provided that the President has sole jurisdiction over administrative cases against provincial governors and city mayors.

"Only the President, not the DILG, can discipline city mayors," she said, reacting to reports that lawyers of actress and TV host Kris Aquino will file administrative charges before the DILG against her former lover, Parañaque Mayor Joey Marquez.

Last Monday, Aquino filed criminal charges of grave threats, grave coercion, illegal possession of firearms and less serious physical injuries against Marquez before the Pasig City prosecutor’s office.

"We are just the investigative arm and in case the lawyers of Kris Aquino file administrative charges against Mayor Marquez, we will forward it to Malacañang," Devanadera said.

She said the President can either remand the case to DILG for investigation or act directly on the complaint. Should the case be remanded to the DILG, the department will then proceed with the investigation and make a recommendation to the President.

Any administrative sanction imposed by the President, which includes suspension or removal from office, will be implemented by the DILG.

Devanadera also cited the Local Government Code, which provides that only the President can take action on administrative cases against provincial governors and city mayors.

The Sangguniang Panlalawigan handles administrative cases against municipal mayors, from conducting an investigation to recommending sanctions to the provincial governor.

Before the Local Government Code was passed into law in 1991, the defunct Department of Local Government (DLG) was vested with the power to hear complaints and impose sanctions against erring local government officials.

Marquez, if proven guilty of illegal possession of firearms, may have all his gun licenses revoked, according to the Philippine National Police (PNP).

"Once it is proven that you possess an unlicensed gun, the licenses for your other guns will be revoked and you have to surrender them," said Senior Superintendent Geary Barias, chief of the PNP Firearms and Explosives Office (FE)).

PNP-FED records show that Marquez, a gun club member, has five licensed firearms: three caliber .45 Colt pistols, a caliber .38 Colt pistol, and a caliber .22 Squires Bingham rifle.

The PNP-FED earlier explained that as a gun club member, Marquez can own more than two licensed guns. Private citizens who are not gun club members are only allowed to possess a handgun and a long firearm. Those with high-powered guns, such as caliber .45 pistols, are required by law to be a member of a gun club.

Barias said the city prosecutor handling the case has to forward a request for the revocation of Marquez’s gun licenses to Chief Superintendent Reynaldo Berroya, chief of the Civil Security Group, before the process of revocation can begin. The FED is under the supervision of Berroya’s unit.

Marquez "will be given due process when that happens," Barias said.

Meanwhile, presidential aspirant Raul Roco lauded Aquino for standing up against Marquez.

"In behalf of the Roco family, we empathize and feel for Kris and (her mother, former President) Cory (Aquino)," he said in a statement.

In a television interview last week, Aquino described her former lover as an "incurable" womanizer who beat her, cocked a gun at her and gave her a sexually transmitted disease.

Roco said that since what Aquino had gone through can happen to any woman, "her forthrightness and courage should be an example for the others who suffer as victims of this silent crime."

"We support Cory in offering a haven to Kris and pray with her that our children will be spared these difficulties as we believe in the capacity of any Filipino to rise again," he added. — with Mike Frialde, Sheila Crisostomo, Sandy Araneta